A Certain Genderbent Story
by StoriedMagi
Summary: No longer a one shot. Kamijou Touka is a fairly normal girl by Academy City standards, save her lifelong streak of misfortune. One day she meets a boy named Index who invites a whole world of misfortune into her life. Why does nothing good ever happen to her? Such misfortune.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events created by Kazuma Kamachi. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

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"Shit! Shit! Shit Shit Shit! God damn it! What is with all this misfortune!"

Even as she realized that her cries sounded rather strange and were utterly futile, Kamijou Touka showed no sign of stopping her screams as she continued her tremendous flight.

As she ran through back alleys late at night, dodging left and right, she glanced over her shoulder.

There were eight of them. She had run frantically for almost 2 kilometers, but there were still eight of them chasing her.

Kamijou cursed as she kicked over a filthy plastic bucket and frightened off a nearby black cat.

The date was July 19th.

All the fault for her current situation lay in that date. Because summer break would start the next day, she was in such high spirits that she had bought a manga at the bookstore, despite a glance at the gaudy colored cover telling her that it was not going to be good. She had then entered a family restaurant to treat herself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack. She then found a middle school-aged boy surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.

But, what she had failed to factor in, was more of their drunk comrades to come swarming out of the bathroom.

Kamijou had always thought that going to the bathroom in groups was something only girlfriends did.

She cursed again as she another corner, slowing down slightly to conserve energy.

"I had to run out before I could try the hellish goya and escargot lasagna I ordered. I'm being treated like a dine-and-dasher even though I didn't even get to dine. What kind of misfortune is this!? Gyahh!"

Kamijou scratched her head as she ran out from one of the various back alleys of this city and into the moonlit street.

It must have been because it was July 19th, because everywhere Kamijou looked there was nothing but couples as far as the eye could see.

_Everything is July 19__th__'s fault._

Kamijou, thought that in her heart, as she tore through the couples as she ran.

Behind she could hear the shouts of the people she had rudely separated from eachother, but also the resounding footsteps of her pursuers.

"Damn it, what are these guys made of! Such misfortune!"

If she simply escaped the group of delinquents, they could possibly have used their phones to call in reinforcements and bikes to hunt her down. Her plan was to simply run down their stamina, so Kamijou had been letting them catch occasional glimpses of her as bait so that they would continue to run and wear themselves out. It was akin to letting boxers hit you to weaken them.

Kamijou's goal was only to save any possible victims.

If she could lose them and have them give up without getting into a fistfight, she would win.

Incidentally, Kamijou had confidence in her long distance running thanks to the small training regimen she did every day.

On the other hand, her opponents had damaged their bodies with alcohol and cigarettes as well as wearing boots which had almost no functionality in their current situation. On top of all that, they had been running at full speed without pacing themselves, which was impossible by its very nature.

As Kamijou had alternated and weaved in and out through roads and back alleys while seemingly simply clumsily running about in a panic, she had seen one and then another of the delinquents drop out of the chase, leaning forward with their hands on their knees. She that felt her plan was the perfect way of resolving the situation without any injuries.

However that did not dull her anger at all.

"Damn it! Why do I have to waste my youthful energy on this crap!?"

Everywhere she looked, Kamijou saw nothing but couples full of dreams and happiness, enjoying the summer night. Kamijou, who was single, could hardly bear the thought that the date could change, yet she would probably have the same amount of misfortune. The very thought of that brought a tear to her eye.

She then heard one of the delinquents shout at her from behind.

"Hey! Slow down you fucking bitch! At least give us a panty shot for our troubles!"

Kamijou felt all of her raging blood go to her face as she turned her head.

"Shut up you idiot! You should be thanking me for not turning around right now and knocking you and your monkey-level IQ out cold!"

As Kamijou shouted back, she stumbled slightly on a box and felt the back of her skirt rise above her hips.

"Wow, what cute panties! Who would have though a high school girl outside of a manga would wear such things!"

Gritting her teeth, Kamijou turned her head and saw that the sight of her panties had reinvigorated the nearly worn out delinquents. Out of seemingly thin air, two more of their comrades joined in with wicked smiles stretched across their faces.

With a sense of failure slowly creeping into her gut, Kamijou looked up at the night sky filled with brightly twinkling stars and shouted.

"Such misfortune!"

After another 2 kilometers of sweaty and teary-eyed running, Kamijou exited the urban area and came to the banks of a large river. A large metal bridge spanned the river, about 150 meters across with no cars on it. With no light source, the plain metal bridge was wrapped in an eerie darkness much like a midnight sea.

Ignoring that, Kamijou glanced back as she quickly darted across the bridge.

But then she stopped mid stride.

At some point in her flight, she had escaped all of her pursuers.

"Shit. Did I finally shake them?"

Kamijou desperately suppressed the urge to sit down right then and there as she stared up into the night sky with a smile.

She had actually managed to resolve everything without having to punch anyone.

She really wanted to praise herself for that.

_Well all's well that ends-_

"Really now, what are you doing you idiot? Do you think protecting those delinquents makes you a good person, like some sort of hero of justice?"

In one instance, Kamijou's entire body froze over, even though it was a fairly warm night.

Because the bridge had no lights anywhere around it, Kamijou had not noticed the boy standing about 5 meters ahead in the direction she had been running.

He looked like a completely normal middle school boy wearing a pair of gray slacks, a short-sleeved dress shirt, and a summer sweater.

Kamijou again stared up into the sky and seriously considered collapsing onto her back. The boy infront of her was the same one that was from the family restaurant.

"So you're the reason that they stopped chasing me."

It was more of a statement then a question.

"Yeah. Those bastards were annoying me, so I roasted them all."

There was a loud zapping sound that echoed off the water a few meters below the bridge. Rather than a stun gun, the boy's short brown hair swayed as if blown by the wind, as sparks of bluish white electricity flew from it like an electrode.

In that moment a convenience store bag in the wind passed by the boy's head, and in an instant it was blown away by bluish-white sparks.

Kamijou sighed to herself.

July 19th. That was why she had bought a manga at the bookstore despite one glance at the gaudy colored cover telling her it was not going to be good. She had then entered a family restaurant to treat herself, for once, to a nice between-meals snack. She then saw a middle school-aged boy surrounded by clearly drunk delinquents, and decided that some rescuing was in order.

That was what happened.

However, Kamijou had not a single thought about rescuing the boy. Instead, she had tried to rescue the idiots who had carelessly approached him.

Why was this boy always like this? After their first meeting weeks ago, whenever she and he crossed paths it always resulted in a fight. If this had been anywhere else in the world this would be easy to solve, but since it was here it was nowhere near easy.

"…What did I even do to you to make you like this? Did I make such an impression that you fell in love with me?"

The boy sneered in response to Kamijou's question.

"Don't flatter yourself, gorilla girl. I simply cannot allow anyone to be stronger than me. That is enough of a reason for me to do this."

Kamijou sighed to herself. Such an explanation would have been fine for a poorly written manga character, but for the real world it just sounded ridiculous.

The boy continued to talk as if Kamijou was listening.

"But you're treating me like an idiot, as well. Did you forget that I'm a Level 5? Level 0's like you should learn to respect your betters."

Kamijou remained silent for a moment.

Academy City.

In this city, the usual standard of a back alley delinquent being the strongest in a fight did not hold up to reality. Those delinquents were mostly powerless, being stigmatized by the name Level 0, those with no real power.

The truly strong in that city, the top-tier of students, were espers, those with powers straight out of fiction.

"Yeah, about all that. I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 in this city have. I really do. But if you want to live a long happy life, you should really stop speaking to people so condescendingly."

To Kamijou's lecture, the boy simply grinned wickedly.

"Shut up. You probably couldn't bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or having electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain. What right do you have to lecture me?"

"…"

That was the kind of place Academy City was.

On the surface Academy City was the pinnacle of science and technology, having items and practices that were many years ahead of those of the outside world. Such things as extra sensory powers were common place in this super advanced world.

However, the other side of Academy City could be seen in how the means of developing these things. To develop these extra sensory powers, numerous "tests" and "practice aids" had been added to the curriculum that, outside of Academy City, would have been considered torturous and cruel.

However, not all of the 2.3 million students living in Academy City had suffered the machinations of this cites darkness. Just under 60% were utterly useless Level 0s who could only bend a spoon with their mind after focusing their brain to the point of all their blood vessel bursting.

However that was the sort of thing that angered Kamijou more than being forced to abandon her meal or being chased by random people all night.

"I really don't see the appeal of psychic powers. If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers. If I need to make fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone? Are psychic powers you have really that great?"

Those were the words of Kamijou Touka, a person who had been branded as useless by Academy City's physical examination sensors.

Those were the thoughts of the girl who hated that such a barbaric system governed this supposedly advanced city.

"And everyone's priorities are all messed up as well. They're all rejoicing over a byproduct we call psychic powers, but isn't the real objective if this city something beyond that?"

In response, the boy who was one of the seven monsters of Academy City laughed.

"Oh god. What was it again? Something like, 'Humans being cannot at this time calculate god, so we need to acquire a body that exceeds our humanity before we can', right?"

The boy instantly sneered.

"Hah. Don't make me laugh. What is all this about the 'understanding god'? We espers have the power to change the world with only a thought, so what point is there with trying to understand the world."

After saying that, the boy smiled and awaited an answer, convinced that he was right.

In the silence, it felt as if the quality of the air had changed.

"…For God's sake, those are the words of the strong."

The boy raised an eyebrow at this, confused.

"What?"

Kamijou began to flex her left hand, and also began to grit her teeth in anger.

"The strong. The strong. The strong. The strong. The strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga antagonist who is so out of touch with reality that it isn't even funny."

The river below the bridge began to make an unsettling amount of noise.

The boy in front of her had probably given up much to reach the top of this city. From his words it was clear that he had endured things that normal humans would have gone insane over.

Yet Kamijou had denied it all of it with only a few words. His sacrifices, his accomplishment, his very point of view. With only a few words it had been deemed irrelevant.

The boy stood silent for a moment, but then a twisted smile came across his face. Sticking his hand in his pant pocket, he pulled out an arcade coin that could be found anywhere.

"Tell me have you ever heard the term 'Railgun'?"

Kamijou continued to stare in silence. The boy gave up on an answer and continued.

"The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train. By creating an area electro magnetism in which a metal projectile is fired through. The electro field allows for the coin to move at extremely fast speed without the fear of air friction. Upon leaving the field the projectile is traveling with such speeds that it can do large amounts of damage with very small objects."

Though she tried her best to keep a calm face, Kamijou could barely keep up with the technical jargon the boy was spouting. However she could not get rid of the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

The boy meanwhile flicked the coin in his hand up into the air with his thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back.

"You see, a Railgun is something like this."

The second he spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou's head. In the disorienting second that followed, Kamijou could only tell that the spear had originated from the boy's thumb because the afterimage of light that stretched back to it.

Almost like the thunder that follows lightning, noise rumbled back into the world after a slight delay. As the shockwave tore through her ears, Kamijou's sense of balance was partially destroyed. She staggered and fell. As she struggled to reorient herself, she turned her head to look at where the spear of light had gone.

The asphalt that made up the surface of the road had been blown away like water to Jet Ski. Even after it had travelled 30 meters on a path of utter destruction, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.

"See. Even an ordinary coin like this can be quite powerful weapon when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Oh! And of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction."

That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like it was an unreliable suspension bridge made of wood and rope. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally popping out of place.

Kamijou gritted her teeth and swallowed her fear from the display of force she had just seen.

"Damn you. Don't tell me you used that to drive those guys away!"

The boy chuckled.

"Thinking about those idiots still. Don't be so worried . I match my methods to my opponents. I don't want to accidentally become a murderer, you know."

As he spoke, sparks began to fly from the boy's brown hair.

"This is enough to take care of Level 0s!"

Bluish-white sparks flew from the boy's bangs like spear, and flew towards Kamijou.

There was no way to evade it. After all, Kamijou was against the bluish-white lightning shot from a Level 5's hair. It was akin to watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then try to dodge it.

An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.

Kamijou immediately held up her left hand to protect her face and the lightning spear struck it. Electricity rampaged through Kamijou's body as sparks scattered in every direction, into the bridge's steel framework.

…Or so it seemed.

"So tell me, why are you completely unhurt?"

His words seemed lighthearted enough, but the boy was baring his canines as he glared at the fine Kamijou.

The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn through the steel framework of the bridge, yet Kamijou's left hand had not even a single burn on it.

Kamijou's left hand had erased the boy's electrical strike that numbered a few hundred million volts like it hadn't even been there.

"Honestly, what's with you? That power of yours isn't even listed in Academy City's Bank. If I'm a one in 328,571 genius, then you're a one in 2,300,000 monster."

The boy sounded annoyed, yet a smile was slowly creeping across his face.

"If I were to defeat an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don't you think?"

"…But you always lose."

Kamijou lowered her hand to her side and glared at the middle-school aged boy across from her.

Imagine Breaker.

Psychic powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. There were those who could use telepathy to lift things, those who could control fire, even those who could control any vector in the world.

Anything using supernatural power, even if it were part of god's divine system, it would be negated without question by that supernatural power of her own.

As it was supernatural in origin, even the boy's Railgun ability was no exception.

However, Kamijou's Imagine Breaker only worked on supernatural powers. Simply put, in a battle with espers, her power was the strongest in the world, but against those who fought with conventional means she was just a high school girl.

Kamijou locked eyes with the middle-school aged boy with short brown hair. A mature smile crossed her face.

"I guess you could say that it was either some misfortune or your just not lucky today."

That was how Kamijou Touka, a Certain Power Canceling Esper, brought that day, July 19th, to an end.

With just one comment, she seemed to be lamenting to everything in the world.

"You just really aren't lucky at all, are you?"


	2. A Certain Boy Appears

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events created by Kazuma Kamachi. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

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"All of you Aquarii out there born between January 20th and February 18th are going have the greatest luck in love, work, and money today! No matter how incredibly improbable things may get, only good things will happen, so how about you go out play the lottery!? But remember, no matter how popular you may be, don't try dating three or four people at the same time ."

"...Hot…"

July 20th, the first day of summer break.

Kamijou Touka was lying on the bed in her Academy City dorm room that was being ruled over by a boiling heat due to a broken air conditioner. Apparently, lightning had struck sometime during the night and had taken out 80% of the electrical appliances in her room, meaning that besides having no air con, the perishable contents of her fridge had been wiped out as well.

This would not have been a problem if she had not eaten the cup of yakisoba she kept as emergency rations; she had spilled the noodles all over the sink last night when she had arrived home dazed and hungry. She would have eaten out if she had not lost her wallet last night. It had either been lost when she was running for her life for 4km, or during her fight with that annoying bugzapper.

So their she lay, sweating in her sleep shirt and panties as her long black hair intensified the heat. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, feeling incredibly unlucky at that moment

"Well with this much misfortune, this day can't possibly get any worse."

As soon as she finished talking, Kamijou's phone began to ring.

Last night, when she had realized that she had lost her wallet, she was relieved, happy even, that her phone was still with her. Now however, her carefully selected ringtone was now filling her with dread.

Sighing, she picked up her phone and pushed the button to answer her phone.

"Hello?"

"Ah Kamijou-san. Good morning."

As usual, Kamijou's homeroom teacher had a carefree happy tone, making him seem more like a high school student than she did.

"Good morning Sensei. I hope that your first day summer is going better than mine."

From the speaker of her phone, Kamijou could hear the chuckle of her teacher.

"Your usual luck, huh? You have my condolences."

For the first time in the past few hours, Kamijou smiled to herself.

"Unfortunately for me I've been stuck with the sad chore of running summer classes."

Kamijou's smile froze as she felt a cold sweat come over her.

"I-I see Sensei. You have my condolences..."

Despite not being in face to face contact with her teacher, Kamijou knew that the man was smiling.

"Kamijou-san. You know you are missing development credits for the year, as well as many uncleared absences."

"I know, I know, Sensei, but-"

Kamijou was politely and accurately, cut off.

"No buts Kamijou-san. Rules are rules, and they need to be followed."

Kamijou thought for a second that she could reason with her teacher, but then she realized who she was talking to.

"Yes sir."

"I'll be expecting you there on time and without complaint Kamijou-san. If you aren't I'll be forced to give you more classes."

"Yes sir."

"Well then see you in class. And don't worry so much Kamijou-san, it's only one week of classes."

With that happy tone, her teacher hung up, leaving Kamijou with tears in her eyes.

"And once again remember, Aquarii have the greatest luck today, so make sure you take full advantage of it."

Kamijou had always felt that horoscopes given on TV's were like weather forecasts. They tended to be right 60 to 70 percent of the time, but then there were outliers in those predictions. However those horoscopes were perpetually wrong for Kamijou, and never encountered a true streak of good luck in her life. This misfortune was simply part of Kamijou Touka's everyday life.

"…Well no use giving up on the day."

However Kamijou was not going to let this bad luck rule the decisions in her life. Kamijou did not need to rely on luck. She had the drive to get through whatever got in her way.

"…Now then. The most immediate problems are my card and the fridge."

Kamijou scratched her head as she looked around the room.

She still had her bankbook, so she could get a new card easily enough. The real problem was the lack of electricity… or rather, breakfast. They were called supplementary lessons, but she was sure she would be forced to take Methuselin pills or Elbrase powder or some other sort of strange drug for the sake of power development. Doing that on an empty stomach was not a good idea.

Sighing Kamijou changed out of her T-shirt and into her summer uniform. She had yet to take a shower due to the lack of hot water, but that was the least of her worries.

Living up to her position as an idiotic student, Kamijou had pointlessly stayed up all night as summer break approached, so a grinding pain was now running through her sleep-deprived mind.

_Well, I guess I'm getting off easy if a single week will wrap up everything I missed_.

Kamijou's mood rebounded after that positive thought. She looked out the window and saw the sunlight shining down.

"The weather sure is nice today. Maybe I should air out my futon."

Kamijou opened the screen door to the balcony, and hoped that the futon to be nice and fluffy once she got back from her supplementary lessons.

But on her seventh floor balcony, the wall of the neighboring building was less than two meters away, blocking out the view of the sky.

"The sky is so blue, but my future is pitch black "

Kamijou's spirits suddenly dropped sharply.

_Well, all else fail; I can at least have it nice and fluffy._

While thinking, she felt something soft squish under her foot. Looking down Kamijou found a yakisoba bread still in its plastic wrapping. It had been in the aforementioned ruined refrigerator, so it had surely gone bad in the heat.

"…Well, all in all, my day can't get any worse than it is."

Kamijou sighed and walked through the open screen door and onto the balcony and spotted a white futon that was already hanging there.

"… What?"

Though it was called a school dormitory, the layout was exactly like a one-room apartment so Kamijou was living alone. As such, no one besides Kamijou would have hung a futon over the railing of this room's balcony.

Upon closer inspection however, Kamijou realized it was not a futon at all.

"What the hell!?"

The real futon fell from her hands and onto the ground.

The futon over the railing was not, in fact, a futon, but actually a boy dressed in all white.

This was a mystery. In fact, it was nonsensical since Kamijou was on the 7th floor.

It looked as if he had collapsed across the metal rod of the balcony; he had his waist pressed up against the balcony railing and his body bent such that his arms and legs were dangling straight down.

He looked like his age was about 14 or 15 about a year or two younger than Kamijou. He must have been a foreigner because his skin was white and his hair was… silver? His hair was rather short as well, so it would have given a great view of his face, if his head was hanging limply downward.

The boys clothes...

"Aren't those… priest clothes?"

Was habit the term for what the boy wore? By and by the outfit was like one you expected to see on a priest in a church.

His clothes consisted of a long robe that reached to his ankles, and a hat that exposed the edges of his hair.

However, while normal priest's habits were supposed to be jet black, these were pure white. Also, at all the important points on the outfit, embroideries made of golden thread were sown in.

As Kamijou looked on, the unconscious boy's well maintained fingers began to twitch. His head slowly rose from its hanging position, and Kamijou saw his face.

_Wow…_

The boy's face was a nice, healthy mix between handsome and cute. His white skin and green eyes left a deep impression on a person with zero overseas experience like Kamijou, and to Kamijou the boy somehow seemed like a doll.

However, there was one problem.

This boy was a foreigner and Kamijou's English teacher had suggested she take up a policy of avoiding foreigners. If someone from some strange country suddenly started talking to her, Kamijou would likely end up agreeing to some strange marriage ritual.

"I…"

The boy's slightly dried lips slowly began to move.

Kamijou thoughtlessly began to take a step or two back and with a squish, she stepped on the yakisoba bread again.

"I'm hungry."

"…"

For an instant, Kamijou thought she was just so dim witted that her mind had automatically substituted the foreign language she had just heard with Japanese.

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"I'm hungry?"

"…"

"That's strange. I had thought I was speaking the right language?"

The silver-haired boy seemed to be a little confused at how Kamijou stood there, frozen in fear.

_No, that settles it, this can't be anything other than Japanese I'm hearing._

As soon as Kamijou thought this, she shook her head and smiled down at the boy dressed up as a priest.

"Ah, umm… Are you trying to say you collapsed from exhaustion or something?"

The boy smiled up at Kamijou.

"Yes. You could also say that I have collapsed here and about to die."

"…"

_This boy can speak very well._

Unaware of Kamijou's thoughts, the boy continued to speak.

"It would be great if you could feed me enough food to fill me up. I've probably been out for… A while I guess."

Kamijou looked at the boy for a few seconds, and then down to the package of yakisoba bread on the ground.

She had no idea what was going on with the boy, but thought that the best course of action was not getting involved. In the hopes of parting ways with the boy in peace and sending him off to some distant place, Kamijou stuck the squished bread up to his mouth.

Kamijou was sure that the boy would run off once he caught a whiff of the sour smell.

The boy in white took a sniff of the expired bread, then a smile spread across his face.

"Thank you very much. Thank you god for this bounty."

Kamijou tilted her head to the side confused.

In an instant the boys mouth engulfed the entire yakisoba, the wrapping included, along with Kamijou's arm which was still holding it.

Kamijou froze for a second, and then the pain signals began to reach her brain.

So, once again, Kamijou's day began with a scream and a taste of misfortune.

"Such misfortune!"


	3. A Certain Request for Food

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events created by Kazuma Kamachi. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

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"Well… I suppose I should introduce myself?"

"Yes you could, or you can explain to me why you were on my balcony."

"My name is Index, a member of the church. The Anglican Church by the way, not the Vatican one."

Kamijou sighed as she put the finishing touches on arm dressing. Despite the boy's unassuming looks, he had the bite of an alligator. While it had not drawn any blood, Kamijou had made sure to properly clean it so as to avoid any long term damage.

All the while she had tried to covertly dig information out of the boy, but he had dodged around the questions like a trained professional. He had either ignored her completely or looked around Kamijou's room, apologizing for biting her earlier, or simply changing the subject to the weather.

Now he had given Kamijou some clearly bogus name, which cemented in Kamijou's mind that something strange was going on.

While Kamijou thought about all this, the boy who continued to call himself Index began to pull on a strand of silver hair that was poking out from under his hat.

"Hmm, was Index lacking in explanation? Well… if it helps, my magic name is Dedicatus545."

"…"

"Umm…"

The boy who called himself Index began to panic slightly.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No I don't think you said anything wrong. I'm just trying to understand what you are saying."

Kamijou sighed to herself and wondered why the two of them were politely sitting there; facing each other from across a table like it was a marriage interview.

If she didn't leave soon, she would be late for her supplementary lessons, but she could hardly leave the situation as it was. To make matters worse, the mysterious silver-haired boy calling himself Index seemed to have taken a liking to the room to the point that he seemed willing to lay on the floor.

Had Kamijou's misfortune called this boy here? She whole-heartedly hoped not.

The boy looked at Kamijou, and smiled.

"Anyways, if you can manage, it would be great if you could feed me enough food to get me back on my feet."

Kamijou looked over at the boy with a clearly dubious gaze.

"Why in the world would I do that? I don't want to raise your affection meter. I'd rather not activate some weird flag and end up stuck on the Index route."

The boy tilted his head to the side, clearly confused.

"Um… is that some sort of slang?"

Kamijou sighed again. Typical of a foreigner, this boy had no knowledge of Japanese otaku culture at all.

"Anyway I think it will be best if you leave. I have things to do, and I can't spend my time on crazy people who appear out of nowhere."

The boy began to panic

"But… But…But if I leave now, I'll collapse three steps out the door!"

Kamijou grimaced at the thought of the boy getting hurt, but remained resolute.

"...Don't give me that collapsing nonsense. Your fine right now."

The boy stared at Kamijou for a few more seconds, but then sighed.

"Well I didn't want to have to do this, but if you don't feed me, I'll use my last bit of strength to leave a dying message: a description of you."

Kamijou was taken aback for a second.

"Wha-?"

The boy open up one eye and looked across at Kamijou with an evil grin on his face.

"And, if someone were to happen to save me, I'll tell them how I was imprisoned in this room and tormented by you to the point of collapse."

Kamijou gritted her teeth and stood up.

"Don't you dare say that! What sort of priest blackmails a person with false information?!"

The boy dressed in white smiled almost sadistically and said nothing.

Kamijou felt as if she was being cheated somehow, and in the evil part of her mind, a plan formed.

Kamijou noisily entered the kitchen and opened the fridge. There were only spoiled goods left, so she could clean out her fridge and feed the boy at the same time. The food would probably be fine if they were heated, so she dumped everything into a frying pan and made something similar to stir-fried vegetables.

As Kamijou began to cook the "food" she wondered where this mysterious boy had come from.

Naturally, there were one of two foreigners in Academy City, however, this boy did not have the characteristic "scent" of a resident.

Academy City was treated like a city made up of hundreds of schools, but it was more accurate to say that it was a city-sized boarding school. It was large enough to cover a third of Tokyo, and was surrounded by something akin to the Great Wall of China; though it was not as strict as a prison, it was still not a place one could simply wander into.

On top of that, three satellites launched for experiments by a technical college were constantly monitoring the city. Every individual going in or out of the city was completely scanned and if any suspicious person for whom the gate records did not match, either Anti-Skill or Judgment from different schools would immediately collect.

_But... that bug zapper had reigned in that thundercloud yesterday. That might have hidden Index from the satellites._

Sighing, Kamijou began to pour soy sauce on the stir-fried vegetables that she was making with purely evil intentions.

"So why are you going to tell me why you were hanging out to dry on my balcony?"

The boy began to pout.

"I wasn't hanging out to dry."

"Then what were you doing huh? Did some errant gust of wind blow you here?"

"...Something like that."

Kamijou hand stopped moving the frying pan and she turned around to face the boy.

The boy looked over at Kamijou and smiled.

"I fell. I was trying to jump from rooftop to rooftop."

_Rooftop?_

Kamijou looked up at the ceiling. Cheap student dorms lined the street and so more of the same types of eight-story buildings were lined up next to this one. One glance out the balcony showed a gap of two meters between buildings, so it was true that a running jump could get you from one rooftop to another.

However Kamijou couldn't help but notice one thing.

"Isn't that eight stories high? One wrong step and you'd be falling straight to hell."

Index seemed less than concerned about what he had just said.

"Yeah, and you don't even get a grave if you commit suicide in my religion. But I had no real choice but to jump. I had no other means of escape."

"Escape?"

Kamijou frowned at the use of that ominous word.

"Yeah, I was being chased."

"..."

Kamijou struggled to keep her hand steady as boy continued to speak.

"I made my jump fine, but I was shot in the back in midair. It seems I was lucky enough to be caught on your balcony as I fell."

He smiled at Kamijou as if to say thank you.

Meanwhile Kamijou tried to wrap her head around this new information.

"You were shot...?"

"Yeah? You don't need to worry about a wound though. These clothes function as a defensive barrier."

Kamijou tried to keep up with her impromptu house guest.

What did he mean by a defensive barrier? Was it a like bulletproof vest?

The boy stood up as if to show off his clothes and did not seem to be injured in any way.

Kamijou had to wonder whether the boy had really been shot, and the concept that he was delusional or making it all up seemed more realistic.

However...

The fact remained that the boy had been hanging like a futon on Kamijou's balcony on the seventh story.

So, hypothetically, if everything she was saying was true…

Who had shot him?

Kamijou looked at the boy who was now interested at the some of the books that littered Kamijou's room.

She thought about how determined one would have to be to jump the 2 meter gap between the rooftops of an eight-story building. She also considered how lucky the boy was to be caught on Kamijou's balcony.

He had said he was being chased.

Kamijou had yet to find out the circumstances that Index was under and understood only a few things she had been told. Most likely, she could only understand it if Index explained everything from start to finish, concealing nothing.

As Kamijou considered all of this information, she sighed.

With a tightening in her chest, Kamijou finally had to accept the fact that the boy named Index had gotten caught on her balcony when one wrong step could have sent him tumbling straight to the asphalt below.

"Food."

Index poked his head from behind Kamijou. Despite his Japanese fluency, he must not have had much experience with chopsticks because he held them in a fist like a spoon while he excitedly stared into the frying pan, eyes shining like a kitten's who was taken from a cardboard box on a rainy day.

"...Ah..."

Kamijou had put the (former) food into the frying pan to make something like (poisonous) stir-fried vegetables in order to get back at the boy. Now, for some reason, the angel Kamijou, who usually came with her devil Kamijou, began writhing horribly at the sight of the starving boy.

Kamijou quickly grabbed the pot and tried to hold it out of reach of the now drooling mini priest.

"I know! If you're really that hungry, how about we go to a proper family restaurant!? We can even get it delivered if you want!"

"I can't wait that long."

In a flash the boy swiped the bowl of food out of her hand and walked back over to the table. Had Kamijou not been more worried about the boy eating the toxic stir-fry, she would have noticed that he was about a centimeter or two shorter than her. She would have chalked it up to foreign genes, but that was the least of her worries.

"W-Wait! I'm a really bad cook! Horrible even! You really won't like it!"

As Index sat down at the table, he smiled up at the panicking Kamijou.

"It can't horrible. You made this food for me out of the goodness of your heart and without charging me anything. There's no way I wouldn't like it."

As pain assaulted Kamijou's stomach, the boy who called himself Index scooped the contents of the frying pan out with his fist-held chopsticks, into his mouth, and began to chew.

"See? It's good."

"...It is?"

Index scooped up another portion and shoveled it into his mouth.

"Of course! It's also nice that you added that sour flavor to help me get my strength back."

"It's sour!?"

The boy did not pause at all as continued to munch at the dangerous food.

"Yeah, but that's fine with me. Thank you. You're like a big sister or something."

The boy gave a large grin as he ate with gusto.

"..."

Silently, Kamijou walked over and grabbed the frying pan from the still eating Index, causing him to look surprised.

"Are-Are you hungry too?"

Kamijou responded by snatching the chopsticks from the startled priest, before sitting down.

Kamijou had received a divine revelation.

God had told her to take responsibility for her actions and eat the food herself.

This had nothing to do with her misfortune; she had brought it all upon herself.

"Thank you for the food."


	4. A Certain Argument of Magic

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events created by Kazuma Kamachi. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

As Kamijou stuffed her mouth with the last of the fried garbage, she took a deep breath and forced herself to keep it down.

"Okay 'Index', you said you were being chased. Chased by whom?"

Having returned from her own personal 30 second of hell, Kamijou once again addressed the biggest point in Index's story.

Now, just to clarify, she was not about to follow a boy she had met less than 30 minutes ago on her balcony down into the depths of hell with a story. However, it was far too late for nothing to happen.

She knew that her knowing about the situation would likely resolve nothing for Index, but Kamijou still desired the comfort of feeling that she did _something_.

Meanwhile, Index, doing his best not to look to crestfallen from his meal being stolen, began to rub his chin as if in deep thought.

"Now who was it? Maybe it was the Rosicrucians or S.M., Stella Matutina. It might have been a group like that, but I don't know their name yet. …These people aren't the type to neglect the meaning in names."

"They…?"

Even though Kamijou couldn't even begin to guess at what those names meant, to her, it was apparent that Index was being chased by some sort of group or organization.

Index turned toward Kamijou and replied with a completely straight face.

"Yeah. A sorcerer's society."

"…"

Kamijou was at a loss for words.

"Sorcerers... What!?"

The force of Kamijou's shout shocked the easily excitable Index.

"W-Was my Japanese weird there? I meant magicians. A magician's cabal."

"…"

Hearing different wording improved nothing for Kamijou.

"Are-Are you talking about like some sort dangerous cult? Like a group that says not believing in its leader will result in you receiving divine punishment and they then proceed to give you LSD to brainwash you? I would run from that as well."

Index tilted his head and shot an angry gaze at Kamijou.

"…Are you making fun of me or something?"

Kamijou struggled under the fiery gaze of the younger boy.

"…I'm-I'm sorry, it's just that… I can't… I can't accept magic. I may know all about all sorts of psychic powers like pyrokinesis and clairvoyance, but I just can't accept the thought of magic existing."

"…?"

Index blinked in surprise, looking confused. He had likely expected a person who knew only of science to deny that there was anything science couldn't explain and that was that.

However Kamijou possessed the Imagine Breaker, an ability that science could not explain. Because of that she had been branded a level 0, and told that she had no power at all. She had always thought that maybe her ability was actually something science could never explain, but that was an impossibility to her.

"Psychic powers …are pretty common here. Anyone's brain can be 'developed' to have the needed pathways opened up by having 'esperin' injected into their veins, or electrodes attached to their neck, or certain rhythms played to them through headphones. These powers can all be explained scientifically, so isn't it only natural for one to accept it?"

Index was silent for a moment.

"…I don't really get it."

"It's normal. It's completely and utterly normal to a person who knows nothing else."

Index was silent, but then he nodded his agreement.

"…But what about magic then? Magic would be normal to a person who knows nothing else."

Kamijou returned this with a smile.

"Well then, take rock, paper, scissors for example. If you played rock paper scissors ten times in a row and lost each time, would there be a reason behind that?"

Index yet again tilted his head in confusion. Kamijou continued to smile as she continued.

"_There wouldn't be any reason, right? But it's human nature to think that there is_. You'd think that there'd be no way you would keep losing like that, so you would assume there was some unseen rule or force guiding you. Once you start thinking like that, what happens when you factoring in things like horoscopes?"

Index's prideful smile had disappeared leaving him with a look of deep thought.

"…You mean like, 'you cancers are going to be unlucky today, so you shouldn't compete in any competitions'?"

Kamijou nodded

"Right. That's the occult's true identity. Magic and luck are simply explanations of that which we do not want to accept. While reality is just a series of pathetic coincidence, our hearts want to think of it as some great inevitability to make us feel better. That's the occult."

For a bit, Index frowned like a displeased cat, but then smiled.

"So you didn't just deny it without giving it any thought."

Kamijou returned his smile.

"Exactly, _and it's because I've given it such serious thought _that I can see why those I can't believe those musty old stories of wizards and magic users. I simply can't believe in the supernatural that has no connection to real science."

Index nodded, agreeing to Kamijou's argument.

"That is a good enough reason not to believe in magic. But magic does exist."

Kamijou blinked slowly three times, and then sighed.

Kamijou could understand the thinking of a person born outside of this city. In this advanced world, things like the ability to teleport from place to place, and the ability to look into someone else's mind were explained completely by science. An outsider wouldn't even begin to understand.

"Well, whatever. So, why are these magicians chasing you?"

"Magic exists."

"…"

"Magic exists!"

Index slammed his hands on the table, showing his willingness to continue the debate.

Kamijou could do nothing but sigh.

"Then what is this magic? Can you shoot fire from your hands without undergoing our psychic curriculum? If so, I'd like to see it. I might actually believe you then."

Index was silent, and slowly his hand began to ball into a fist.

"I have no magic power, so I can't do that anything like that."

"…"

Kamijou felt like she had just met an esper failure that said they could not bend a spoon around a camera because it distracted them. It left her with a rather complex feeling in her chest.

Index looked up at Kamijou, determination set in his eyes.

"…Magic exists."

Kamijou was silent, but then sighed.

"Okay, okay. Let's just say, _for the argument's sake_, that magic does exist."

"_For the argument's sake_?"

Kamijou continued, ignoring the boy.

"If it does, why are these magicians after you? Does it have something to do with how you're dressed?"

Kamijou pointed at the extravagant priest habit that Index wore, made of pure white silk and golden thread embroideries.

"What I'm trying to say is that is this related to church in anyway?"

Index was silent. His face displayed a scene of intense inner turmoil to Kamijou, but eventually it gave way to a look of resignation.

"…The magicians are chasing me… because I am the Index."

Kamijou was sure that whatever Index had said was important, but she just could not understand it.

"Hah?"

"They are likely after the 103,000 grimoires that I have."

"…"

"…"

Kamijou sighted yet again.

"…Once again, I don't understand you at all."

This time around Index sighed back.

"Why do you seem to lose motivation every time I try and explain something? Are you the fickle type?"

Kamijou felt slightly ashamed at that remark and struggled to come up with some sort of response.

"Um, I'm not sure what these grimoires are, but I imagine it's a book, like a dictionary maybe?"

Index nodded.

"Yes. The Book of Eibon, the Lemegeton, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Cultes des Goules, and the Book of the Dead, just to name a few. The Necronomicon is so famous there are all sorts of imitations and fakes, so it isn't very reliable."

"So, where are these 100,000 books? Do you mean you have a key to where they're stored?"

Kamijou refused to back down on that point. One hundred thousand books were enough to fill an entire library, let alone Kamijou's tiny apartment.

Index shook his head

"No. I have every single one of the 103,000 grimoires with me at all times."

Kamijou frowned. Unless the books were the size of matchbooks, there was no way for this boy to carry that many books on his person at once. And, even if that was the case, it would be impossible for this boy to have so many books without Kamijou seeing them.

"Let me guess. Now you are going to say that these are books idiots like me can't see, aren't you?"

Index looked at Kamijou with a quizzical gaze.

"You couldn't see them even if you weren't an idiot. It would defeat the entire purpose if anyone could see them."

Those words were so removed from reality that Kamijou actually felt as if she was being mocked. She glanced around her small apartment, but could not see a single musty old book that may have been a grimoire, size of a matchbook or not. All she saw scattered on the floor were various magazines and manga, as well as the summer homework she had tossed into a corner.

With a sigh, Kamijou gave up on trying to understand.

She had forced herself to listen to the boy up until then, but this was the limit of her patience.

Kamijou began to wonder whether this boy had merely imagined being chased. If he had jumped from the eighth story rooftop, slipped on his own without getting shot, and luckily gotten caught on Kamijou's balcony all due to a delusion, then he was not someone Kamijou wanted to involve herself with any longer.

"You know 'Index' your talk of magic isn't very convincing right now."

Index looked affronted by Kamijou's muttered comment.

"Really now, believing in psychic powers but not in magic makes no sense to me at all. Are those psychic powers really all that great that it clouds out you belief in other things? It isn't right to make fun of people just because you have some kind of special power."

Those words were like a knife to Kamijou's gut. While altered a bit, they were the same words she had given to that arrogant bug zapper last night.

Kamijou scratched the back of her head in embaressment, before she found the words to apologize.

"I'm sorry. I agree that it's not right, and that it's wrong to think of yourself as above others just because you can pull off some little trick. It's just that for the people who live in this city, the power they have is like a part of their personality, as well as their standing. So you might say that their power is also their pride. In fact, I'm one of those espers, as well."

Index skeptically looked over Kamijou before responding.

"You're an esper huh? Well if you are one, what can you do then?"

"Umm, well, if you put it that way…"

Kamijou blushed a bit since she was a bit unsure of what to say.

It was not often that she had to explain her left hand to others since it could only be explained with knowledge of the supernatural or psychics.

Settling on an suitable explanation, she raised her left hand.

"You see, my power is located in my left hand here. I wasn't given it by doping or any other strange experiment; I've had this power since birth. You see if I touch anything supernatural with my left hand, any kind of supernatural power at all, it will be negated. That goes for A-bomb level fireballs, tactical railguns, or even the workings of God."

Index's eyes then bulged out in surprise, surprising Kamijou in turn.

"Umm, Index-san, why does your face look like you just saw a good luck miracle stone in some magazine?"

Index stuttered before he got his words out.

"But-But-But… you don't even know God's name, yet you just said you can negate His miracles?!"

To Kamijou's great surprise Index began to laugh.

"That's impossible! There is no way something like that could exist."

Kamijou felt a small seed of anger begin to blossom in her heart.

"This is really annoying, you know that right? I kind of hate being made fun of by some kind of fake magical boy who claims magic exists but can't do a thing to prove it."

That mutterings of Kamijou's soul snapped Index out of his laughing spree.

"I-I'm not a fake! Magic really does exist!"

Kamijou had finally had enough of these delusions. With one smooth move, she stood up and looked down at the young man dressed as a priest.

"Then show me something, Mister Halloween boy! Just like how you aren't going to believe my Imagine Breaker until I destroy something with my left hand, I'm not going to believe you until you show me some magic!"

"F-Fine, I will!"

Index stood up in an equally fast motion to lock eyes with Kamijou.

"These clothes! They contain one of the highest qualities of defensive barriers called the Walking Church!"

Index spread his arms out to show off the robe he was wearing, and smiled.

"Seeing is believing, right? Take a knife from that kitchen over there and stab me in the gut!"

Kamijou was taken back a second by the conviction in Index's words.

"Stab you!? This isn't going to end up as a news story that says 'it all started with a pointless argument' or something, right?"

Index triumphantly smiled.

"Ah ha, you don't believe me do you? These have the bare minimum of components required to make up a church: in other words, they are a church in the form of clothes. The way the cloth is woven, the way the threads are sewn, the way the embroideries decorate it… It's all calculated to provide the maximum amount of protection. A normal knife won't even put a scratch on it."

Kamijou blinked in confusion, but then began to chuckle.

"Yeah, right. What's next? Are you going to tell me that those robes allow you to see the future as well if fragments of a crystal ball are mixed in?"

That set Index off into a rage.

"Will you ever stop mocking me?! These are an accurate copy of the Shroud of Turin, the cloth worn by the Saint that was stabbed by the Lance of Longinus, so their strength is Pope-class. I guess you would say it's something like a nuclear shelter! It will turn aside or absorbs any attack, be it physical or magical. I told you I got caught on your balcony after getting shot, right?! Well, I would have a giant hole in me right now if it wasn't for the Walking Church. Do you understand now?

Kamijou gave an evil grin at the younger boy.

"Yeah I understand just fine. If these clothes really do possess some form of supernatural power like magic, it will be destroyed by my left hand."

Index returned Kamijou's grin in kind.

"Yes it would, but only if this power of yours is real."

"Perfect!"

As she said this Kamijou reached out and grabbed Index's shoulder.

It was in that moment that Kamijou cooled her head and began to think rationally.

If everything Index was saying was true, as unlikely as that was, and this Walking Church really was sewn together with supernatural power, wouldn't negating that supernatural power truly rip his clothes to pieces?

"Huuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?"

Kamijou reflexively yelled out at the sudden premonition that she was going to ascend a few steps of the ladder of adulthood, but…

…?

Nothing happened. Nothing happened at all.

Index began to laugh at the girl who was still recovering from her sudden panic.

"See? What was all this talk about your Imagine Breaker? Nothing at all happened."

In the next instant, all of Index's clothes fell straight down like a gift's ribbon.

The threads sewing his habit together had cleanly come apart, turning it all into mere pieces of cloth in less than a second.

Both girl and boy froze for a split second.

Aside from his head which was covered up by his hat, he was completely naked. This afforded Kamijou a perfect view of everything including…

Index slowly looked down at his now nude body, and then slowly back up at Kamijou. He then attempted something between an embarrassed and awkward grin and nervously chuckled.

"Well…Um… Looks like it works after all, huh? Looks like we can both believe each other now."

Kamijou was silent for a few seconds, but then returned the boys nervous smile with a grin of her own.

As well as a well-thrown right hook.


	5. A Certain Temporary Farewell

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events created by Kazuma Kamachi. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Look, I know I shouldn't have let that get out of hand, okay. I admit that it was my entire fault for showing you that, but do I really need to stay in here?"

Kamjou remained silent as she continued to piece together the random strips of cloth that were once a priest robe. From the other side of her bathroom door she could hear the sigh of the boy named Index.

After Kamijou had seen the foreign grown… items that Index possessed, Kamijou had flown into a half defensive, half mortified rage, tossing whatever was at her disposal at the scared boy. While nothing had been broken, her room was now a mess of papers, books and magazines scattered everywhere. Index's hat had somehow fallen off his head in the confusion and was now in the far corner of Kamijou's room. Now sufficiently calmed, Kamijou was now working to fix the robe she had broken.

However it was not going well. While she could have sewn it together with a needle and thread, she did not have either on hand. What she did have, however, were numerous safety pins which were working to get the robe back into a reasonably wearable shape. However, it not being as good as what it once was caused Kamijou to sigh.

_Well my home care grade has been terrible for years now. I shouldn't expect high quality from my clumsy hands._

As she safety pinned the last two bits of cloth, something about her thought told her to look up at the clock in her room. And with that the term "supplementary lessons" floated into her mind.

"Oh crap!"

Ignoring any sense of embarrassment she might have felt, Kamijou threw open the bathroom door. Had she been in a less scared state of mind, she might have blushed over the foreign boy, naked from the waist up, clad only in one of her towels.

However now was not the time.

She tossed in her attempt at the finished robe into the room and slammed shut the door. After doing that she ran around the room gathering up anything she thought she might need for her class that day, and put it into her bag. Once she was done with that she got back to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Um… I have to go to school right now, so what are you going to do? If you're going to stay here, I guess I can give you a key for while I'm gone."

The option of simply kicking this boy out had disappeared from Kamijou's mind. Since Index's habit had reacted to Imagine Breaker, this boy clearly had some sort of connection to the supernatural. That meant that not everything he had been telling Kamijou was a lie.

It was possible that Index had really fallen from the roof because he was chased by a group of magicians. It was possible that he had been in a life or death battle over 103,000 books. It was possible that wizards or something similarly crazy was running amok in this city of science.

And, even if all of those possibilities were false, Kamijou could not find it in herself to just abandon Index.

"…That's okay. I'll leave."

However, that dramatic announcement put an end to Kamijou's thoughts. Index walked out of Kamijou's, fully dressed in the ramshackle robe. While one could recognize what the robe once was, one couldn't help but have their eyes drawn to the shinning pins that lined it as well.

Kamijou however was not paying attention to that right now.

"It's not that big of deal if you stay here. Once the power comes back on we will be able to watch TV, and when I get back I can treat you to a proper meal."

Kamijou said this with a smile, but that did little to convince the clearly resolute Index.

"If I stay here, those mages from before will likely come. You don't want your room to be destroyed when you return, do you?"

That smoothly delivered response rendered Kamijou speechless.

As Index slowly turned and exited the front door, Kamijou frantically ran after him. While she did not have her wallet on her, her pockets had revealed 320 yen. She ran after Index, money in hand, but her small toe struck the door frame with a thud.

"Kyahhh!"

Kamijou held her foot as she let out a strange cry, causing Index to turn around in shock. As she writhed around in pain, she felt her cell phone fall from her pocket. Before she could do anything about it however, the slimly designed model struck the hard floor and she heard the crack of the LCD screen.

Kamijou bowed over her phone as tears began to well up.

"Such misfortune."

"I'd say that was clumsiness, not misfortune. But since this Imagine Breaker of yours is real, it may just be inevitable."

Kamijou looked up at the boy priest with an astonished gaze.

"…What do you mean by that?"

A small smile spread across the priests face.

"This is related to magic, so I doubt you'll believe me. But if the divine protection of God and the red string of fate actually do exist, then wouldn't your left hand negate all of those? The power of the Walking Church is-was a blessing of God after all."

Kamijou could not accept it.

She could not accept the fact that was just thrown into her face so casually.

"W-wait. What we call fortune and misfortune are just matters of probability and statistics, like we disscused. It's impossible for something like the Imagine Breaker to-"

As she spoke, Kamijou's finger touched the doorknob and she was shocked by the pent up static electricity.

The agony left her completely incapacitated for a few seconds.

"…Um, brother?"

"Yes?"

The smugness of his response did little to calm Kamijou's fears.

"…Please explain it to me."

"There isn't much to explain. If what you said about your left hand is true, then merely having it is enough to be continually negating the power of fortune. Just by touching the air, your left hand is giving you more and more misfortune."

Kamijou was silent as she looked up into the sky. When she could not hold it in any longer she screamed out.

"Such misfortuuuuuuuunnnneeeee!"

Kamijou felt that she was about to break from the amount of unfairness the world had just piled on her. The sneaking suspicion that had been in the back of her head for years had finally become an actual fact. The entire universe was literally against her.

As Kamijou was seconds away from crying tears of frustration, Index was panicking over the very apparent damage he had done.

"C-Come on. With a power like that your life can't be all bad, right? You must be the strongest person ever."

The smiling priests comment did nothing to cheer up Kamijou. When she thought of all the times Imagine Breaker had been useful, it had only been good when she had been caught up in something because of her misfortune.

However Kamijou sighed, and buried those emotions she felt in the deepest part of her mind, and pretended that the priest had cheered her up.

"Anyway, do you have somewhere to go once you leave here? I'm still not 100% certain of what the situation is, but you can hide here if those magicians or whatever are really nearby."

Index smiled like he was talking to an ignorant child.

"If I stay here, the enemies will come here. That is why I can't stay."

"How can you be so sure of that? If you just stay in my room and not draw any attention to yourself, there shouldn't be any problem at all."

Index responded by pinching the chest of his robes.

"This Walking Church used to function using magical power. The church some in the church call it 'divine power', but it's the same exact mana used by every mage. The enemy is able to search for the magic power that the Walking Church uses."

This just further complicated Kamijou's view of the situation.

"Why would you wear those tracking device clothes!? But… wait Imagine Breaker destroyed your Walking Church, right? Shouldn't the tracking device functionality be gone too?"

Index smiled sadly in response.

"Even if it is, they'll know that the Walking Church is gone. You see these clothes function like a fortress for me. If I were my enemy, I would make an appearance when that fortress was destroyed."

Kamijou could not believe any of what she was hearing.

"Wait a second. That's all the more reason for you to stay. I may still not believe in the occult, but if someone's after you I can't just let you leave if you are in danger."

"…Then, will you follow me to the depths of hell?"

Kamijou was taken aback by what she saw in that face. The pair of eyes that were a few seconds ago so full of mischief and glee were now dead. What could not be communicated in words was clearly told in those eyes.

They said "Do not follow me."

As Kamijou remained silent, the life returned to Index's eyes and he smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to be alone for long. Once I can escape to a church, they will surely shelter me from the mages."

Unable to say anything, Kamijou began to scratch the back of her head.

"…I see. So where is this church?"

"In London."

"…"

Kamijou's silence seemed to display her mood, since he responded instantly.

"Don't worry though. I sure there are a few branches here in Japan."

Kamijou clenched her left hand into a fist, but did not say what she wanted to say.

"A church, huh? There might be one in the city."

"Oh, but it can't just be any kind of church. It has to be one of the British group I belong to."

"?"

Clearly confused, Kamijou tilted her head as a sign for Index to explain.

"Um well, there are any kinds of Christianity in the world you see. First, there is the distinction between the old style Catholics and the new style Protestants. Also, while I belong to the Catholics, there are various versions of them as well. For example: the Roman Catholic Church which is centered around the Vatican in Rome, the Russian Orthodox Church with its headquarters in Russia, and the Anglican Church with its core at St. George's Cathedral in London."

"…What happens if you accidentally go to the wrong church?"

Kamijou already knew the answer to this question before she asked it. Even though she was not a straight A student, she could figure out why there were so many different churches in this world.

Index smiled sadly at Kamijou.

"They would turn me away naturally. The Russian Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church primarily exist within their respective countries, anyway. As such, Anglican churches are going to be rare here in Japan."

"…"

Things were looking gloomy for this boy.

Kamijou could picture Index had going to church after church before he collapsed from hunger, only to be turned away because of the politics of some long dead men. Just the thought of that made her anger flare in her chest.

Index smiled up at Kamijou.

"Don't worry about me. I just have to keep going until I find a British church. After that I'll be fine."

"…"

Kamijou reached out with her right hand and began to pat Index on his head.

"If you ever need any help, or just want a bite to eat. Next time I'll make sure all of my food is fresh."

That was all she could say in that moment.

Kamijou had the power to stop even God and yet that was all she could say with a smile.

Index returned her smile.

"I'll be sure not to be a stranger."

The finality of that statement weighed heavy on Kamijou's heart. It was as if she was never going to see this boy again.

The next moment, a cleaning robot passed by Index.

"Wha-!?"

Index jumped and then tripped backwards. With a horrible sounding thud, his head struck the wall behind him.

"Some weird thing just showed up out of nowhere like it's no big deal!"

Index was shivering in fear, and completely forgot to even hold the back of his head.

The sight of this brought a smile to Kamijou's face.

"Don't just point at it and call it weird. It's just a cleaning robot."

The machines size and shape were similar to that of a large trashcan, with small tires on the bottom for mobility and a circular rotating mop similar to those on a street cleaner. It had cameras in order to avoid people and other obstacles, but that also made it the absolute worst enemy of girls in miniskirts.

Index calmed himself, and became interested in the machine.

"…I see. I had heard that Japan was a leading nation in technology, but I didn't know you had already made mechanized golems. This is truly amazing."

"Well this is Academy City after all. Things like this can be found all over the city."

"Academy City?"

It looked like it was Kamijous turn to explain.

"It's a city made up of the entire western area of Tokyo where development had slowed down. The name comes from the dozens of universities and schools in it. That's why this city is a bit odd. This place is overflowing with university experiments like automated disposal of kitchen waste, wind turbines that function well enough to be practical, and cleaning robots like this one. Thanks to all that, our level of technological culture is about 20 years ahead of anywhere else in the world."

Index carefully examined the cleaning robot, afraid to take his eyes off of it.

"So all the buildings I can see here are part of Academy City?"

"Yeah, so I'm guessing it might be best for you to leave the city if you're looking for an Anglican church. All the churches here are probably teaching institutions for theology or Jungian psychology."

Index slowly nodded and, once he was sure that the cleaning robot wasn't going to attack, finally brought a hand up to the back of his head where he had hit the wall.

"Huh? My hat! Where is my hat?!"

Kamijou smiled.

"Oh, so you finally noticed, huh? It fell off earlier."

"What?!"

By "earlier", Kamijou had meant when she had nearly killed Index, but he had seemed to mistake it for when he had tripped backwards because of the cleaning robot. He quickly started looking around on the floor and Kamijou could almost see the question mark over his head. Silently, the cleaning robot, disappeared around the corner.

"Hey! Stop you mechanized golem!"

Still mistaken, Index made a dash after the cleaning robot and disappeared.

"…What in the world?"

Kamijou look through the door to her room where Index's hat was lying in the corner of her room and then down the passageway where the boy had just disappeared.

There had been no farewell between the two of them, tearful or otherwise.

Kamijou sighed to herself, but felt a small smile crossed her face.

Deep down in her heart, somehow, she knew that the two of them would cross paths again. She couldn't place where she got this feeling from, but somehow she just knew.


	6. A Certain Repeating Everyday

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to this work. This work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Okay everyone, I know its summer, but please pay attention. It will make this a lot less painful for everyone."

Even though she had spent an entire term in that class, Kamijou still could not believe the sight before her.

In schools the world over, there were often urban legends about a school's mysteries, such as self-playing piano's or anatomy models that moved. In Academy City it was no different, though these myths ranged from secret cloning experiments or mysterious items to increase your power level. These myths were often laughed off by the general populace of the city, though once in a while there was one myth that actually existed.

Take the homeroom teacher of Year 1 Class 7, Kamijou's class.

Negi Springfield, a foreigner with flaming red hair, was an utterly ridiculous teacher who looked like he was old enough to be one of the students he taught.

"Now the handout I gave you earlier covers the basics of psychic power development, as well as the breakdown of the types of powers currently categorized in the Academy City registry. We will be having a quiz on this later on this week, and if you do poorly on it, you will have to take the See Through exam as well."

Kamijou, the person who on average got the worst scores on tests, was almost shocked speechless.

"But sensei, that's the test where you have to play poker with a blindfold on, right!? That's part of the Curriculum for Clairvoyance! Wouldn't the people without powers just be stuck here until morning!?"

Kamijou's teacher smiled back at Kamijou.

"Sorry Kamijou-san, but you don't have enough development credits anyway, so you'll have to be doing the See Through exam regardless."

"Ugh. Why does this sort of thing only happen to me? Such misfortune."

Beside her, the blue haired, female class representative began to laugh.

"Don't worry Kami-yan. Negi-chan can't help but bully you because you're so cute."

"…Really? That's what you have to say even though you know this happens all the time?"

The blue haired class representative had a smug look on her face.

"What's wrong with having such a cute teacher scold you for failing a quiz? Physical abuse is just another form of love, Kami-yan."

Kamijou almost shouted out but she was interrupted.

"What am I to do with you two?"

Kamijou and the class representative nearly jumped out of their skin. Their teacher had crossed the distance between their desks, which were in the back of the class, and the blackboard in a flash. Though he was smiling, Kamijou had felt the wrath of this teachers smile before.

"So are you two going to be quiet now, or will I have to give both of you the Columbus Egg exam?"

To clarify, the Columbus's Egg exam involved standing a raw egg upside down on a desk without anything supporting it. Those specializing in Psychokinesis were able to keep the egg from falling, provided they worked their brain until it burst. As with the See Through Exam, those without powers like Kamijou would be stuck doing it until morning.

Kamijou and the blue haired class representative did not answer verbally, but simply nodded their head. Springfield grinned back at them in a fairly smug way.

"So please follow along, and take notes please. If you don't work hard you will have to take more classes, and guess who will have to teach those?"

Kamijou had learned around the beginning of this term that Springfield was a person who could scare someone with any expression.

Kamijou sighed as Springfield went back to teaching, and she began to think of that silver haired boy who had appeared that morning.

While the habit he wore had indeed reacted to Kamijou's right hand, that did not mean she really had to believe in his delusions. Most likely, the majority of what Index had said was a misunderstanding, mistaking some natural phenomenon as the occult.

However…

If the alternative was being stuck at a desk in that sauna-like classroom with no air conditioning and the certainty of extra tests, then a fantasy of swords and magic might have been better.

"…"

Kamijou recalled the hat that was still sitting in her room. In the end, she had not returned it, though she would likely have found Index if she had seriously started looking for him. Even if she couldn't find him, Kamijou could waste the rest of her day running around this city, hat in hand.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she had wanted some kind of connection with that boy.

She wanted this because, thinking back to that boy's lifeless eyes, Kamijou could not help but think that he could disappear just as fast as he appeared.

"…Ah, damn it."

Clicking her tounge, Kamijou felt she was an idiot for letting Index go.

Even if she had to fight magicians out of a storybook, Kamijou felt that would have been fine. If it meant never having Index have that face ever again.

"Sensei. Kamijou-san seems to be paying more attention to the swim team than you."

The blue haired class representative's voice snapped Kamijou out of her thoughts just in time to look up at Springfield-sensei who was smiling menacingly.

"Kamijou-san."

Kamijou could only grin in fear as she awaited her punishment.

* * *

"…Such misfortune."

Kamijou muttered this as she gazed at a wind turbine's propellers, glittering in the sunset as it rotated far above the street.

Though they were called supplementary lessons, these summer classes let out around the time normal lesson did.

Since a majority of the population were students, any kind of nightlife was forbidden, meaning that the last bus and train in Academy City were scheduled to leave once students were out of school.

True to her character, Kamijou had missed the last bus, forcing her to trudge along through the scorching hot shopping district that seemed to go on forever.

"Oh. It's you. What are you- Hey!"

A security robot passed by Kamijou as she walked in silence. They were drum shaped like the cleaning robots, which reminded Kamijou of the boy who had disappeared earlier that day.

"Wait! Wait up you idiot! Answer someone when they are trying to talk to you!"

Kamijou was snapped out of her heat daze when she heard a voice shouting at her.

Turning around, Kamijou was face with a middle school-aged boy with short brown hair that glowed in the sunset. He wore a gray pair of slacks, a short sleeve dress shirt, and a summer sweater. The top of his head barely reached Kamijou's shoulder, indicating he had yet to hit his growth spurt.

It took Kamijou a little to figure out who this was

"…Oh, it's you again, the Biri Biri Middle Schooler."

The boy sighed.

"Please don't refer to me as Biri Biri. I have a name you know, it's Misaka Mitoko. You've been calling me Biri Biri since we first met. You should really learn-"

_Since we first met…? Oh right._

A few weeks ago, a night when she was walking home from school, Kamijou had seen this boy surrounded by delinquents just like the he had been yesterday. Kamijou had intervened then as well to keep the situation from getting out of control, only to be attacked by the person she was trying to save. She of course blocked the boy's electricity with her left hand, but that must have offended him, because everytime they met he had been various versions of rude, from smug comments to outright attacking her.

"-respecting your betters something they teach in high school? You if you're like that then- Are you even listening to me?!"

Kamijou sighed from exhaustion and chose a less than elegant solution to get rid of the annoying bug zapper.

"The boy glaring at Kamijou's face with an angry expression is the Railgun boy from yesterday evening. He's frustrated over losing a single fight to a girl that he has constantly come to Kamijou to challenge her to rematches."

The boy looked at Kamijou with a quizzical gaze, and then looked around the surrounding area.

"…Who's that explanation for?"

Kamijou continued, ignoring the question.

"He's a strong-willed boy who hates to lose, but is actually quite a lonely person and takes care of the class pet to cope with it."

"Don't just tack strange things on to the setting!"

The boy, Misaka Mitoko, shouted with such force that all focus was drawn toward him. It was not all that surprising, since the uniform he wore was the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School, one of the 5 most prestigious and elite schools in Academy City.

Kamijou smiled, going into to full teasing mode.

"So why are you wearing your school uniform today Biri Biri? Were your grades so bad that you had supplementary lessons, or were you worried about the class bunny?"

"Shut up."

At that exact moment, a tremendous noise came from every cell phone in the surrounding area. The cable broadcast in the shopping district cut out as well, and a horrible noise came from the security robot that was revolving happily next to Kamijou.

The crackling sound of static electricity came from the middle school boy's hair. That boy, who could fire a railgun with just his body alone, smiled in a way that barred his canines.

"I've never met someone who could annoy me as much as you. Now isn't about time you-"

In a flash Kamijou's hand was over Misaka's face, with a scared expression over hers.

"Please just shut up! You just fried everyone's cell phones and they're looking none too pleased about it! If they find out it was us, they'll make both of us pay, and I have no idea how much that would cost!"

Due to her earlier encounter with the silver haired priest, Kamijou prayed with all her might to the God whom she normally only thought of around Christmas.

Luckily her prayers must have made their way to heaven because no one approached her or the bugzapper she was currently smothering.

"Error No. 100231-YF. Offensive electromagnetic waves in violation of radio laws have been detected. System malfunction detected. As this is possible cyber terrorism, the use of electronics is temporarily suspended."

The Imagine Breaker and the Railgun hesitantly turned around.

The drum container like security robot was on its side spewing smoke as it spoke to itself nonsensically.

The next instant an alarm began to sound.

* * *

"Come to think of it, I didn't do anything wrong, so why am I running away? It's all his fault!"

"I've told you time and again, my name is Misaka Mitoko!"

Naturally the two of them had ran away. Kamijou had heard on a talk show that those security robots cost 1.2 million yen each (approx. $15000) and did not want to have anything to do with repaying the damages.

The two finally came to a stop in a back alley, of a back alley, of a back alley. One of the buildings must have been demolished because an open rectangular area was there, which would have been great for an outdoor sport.

However Kamijou did not care about that now.

"Shut up, Biri Biri! You're the one that destroyed all of my electronics with that lightning yesterday! What could you possibly want after doing that!?"

"It's your fault for pissing me off! If you showed me some respect I would stop."

Kamijou felt her eyebrow twitch in anger.

"Why in the world would anyone respect you shorty! You haven't even beat me once!"

A sudden spear of electricity shot at Kamijou from the boy's hair. Apparently he must have been sensitive about his height.

However, his electricity was no match for Kamijou and her left hand. She simply brushed away the bolt like it was a plastic bag in the wind.

"You just keep coming at me again and again like that, and wearing yourself out! Don't use your powers so recklessly and then blame me when you checked into the hospital for exhaustion, Biri Biri!"

Even from across the lot, Kamijou could hear the grinding of the boy's teeth.

"None of those fights count. They can't count! You never once attacked me in any of them!"

Kamijou sighed in resignation. There was no getting through to this idiot.

"Fine, fine. It's your win. They can all be your win for all I care. Punching you isn't going to fix my air conditioner any faster."

"Wait a second! Take this seriously, dammit!"

Kamijou was finished with this idiocy. She locked eyes with the annoying bug zapper boy.

"_Are you sure you want me to take this seriously_?"

Misaka was silent for a second, then a sadistic smile spread across his face.

"Why not? I didn't really want to fight today, but you just seem to be asking for it!"

The sound of arching electricity resonated around the field. The boy's bangs swayed back and forth as if there was a wind, and the bluish white sparks began to shoot off of him like he was an electrode.

To any random passerby, he would have looked like Zeus, come down to the mortal plane.

But Kamijou did not even flinch at this sight.

Why should she, when she had the power to stop even god.


	7. A Certain Magician's Entry

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"A regular, huh?"

Kamijou sighed as she realized that the economy was so bad that one couldn't buy a large gyuudon for 320 yen.

The girls who happily ate a bento the size of a light novel would likely not understand, but to someone who was constantly running around and expending lots of energy, the regular size gyuudon was nothing more than a snack.

After dumping off the exhausted Biri Biri boy at the nearest Judgment station, Kamijou had gone to a gyuudon restaurant to eat her "snack". Now with only 30 yen remaining, she approached her dorm building after the sun had already set.

It was the first day of summer break, so the place was deserted since most people were presumably out enjoying themselves.

Kamijou went through the auto-locking entrance, and got on to the stuffy and dirty elevator. As she rode up, she took the chance to look down at herself. Her clothes were covered in dust after he fight with that annoying bug zapper, so she would have to wash them before she went to bed. Knowing that her electricity wasn't going to be back, Kamijou sighed at the prospect of washing them all by hand.

With a happy, microwave oven-like ding, the elevator reached the seventh floor.

Kamijou pushed aside the door that clanked every time they opened and entered the passageway. Though she was on the seventh floor, there was no wind because the neighboring building being so close, making it seem much hotter and stuffier than it actually was.

Kamijou walked down the hallway to her room, she saw a strange sight.

"…What is going on now?"

Down the straight passageway and right in front of her door, three cleaning robots were gathered in a tight bunch. Seeing three of these drum shaped robots was rare, seeing as how there was only five ever deployed for Kamijou's dorm.

From the way they were moving back and forth, they seemed to be cleaning up some sort of horrible mess. For an unknown reason, Kamijou felt an intense feeling of impending misfortune.

_What in the world has these things that can rip up gum off the sidewalk so frustrated? And why is it in front of my door!?_

Kamijou thoughts went through all the possible of events that could have happened, ranging from her neighbor seducing her way into some liquor and then throwing said liquor up, to some sort of escaped lab experiment designed to excrete some sort of worthwhile material that could not be brought up through conventional methods. As the possibilities in her head got more and more ridiculous, she could only sigh.

"What in the world happened…?"

People had an unfortunate tendency to want to see horrible things, and after taking a few more subconscious steps forward, Kamijou finally saw the horrible thing that was in front of her door.

It was the mysterious boy named Index, collapsed from hunger.

"… … …Well that was anti-climactic."

While he was not entirely visible because of the robots crowding around him, it was clear that someone wearing a white priest's habit covered in glittering safety pins had collapsed face down in front of Kamijou's door.

"…Well I guess this is a form of misfortune too."

Had Kamijou seen her face in a mirror at that time, she might have been surprised to see a smile. Deep down she had been worried about the boy. Perhaps she did not believe his crazy talk about magicians and magic, but it was possible that some cult was chasing him.

Even without those worries, Kamijou was simply happy to see him again.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Need another meal already?"

Kamijou began to run over, and once she got near enough she saw the pool of blood.

"…Eh…?"

The first thing she felt was confusion, not utter shock.

She had been unable to see it previously because of the group of cleaning robots in the way.

The way the boy was lying face down, Kamijou could see the perfect single horizontal line near the bottom of his back. The wound was clearly caused by a blade of some sort, but was so straight and precise that it looked like someone had used a ruler and a box cutter to plan it out.

For an instant, a single instant, Kamijou failed to comprehend that the substance flowing from the boy was human blood.

All the while, the three cleaning robots continued to move back and forth doing their job.

The three robots were cleaning the stain on the floor.

They were cleaning the red substance slowly spreading across the floor.

They were cleaning the red substance that was flowing from Index's body, and to Kamijou's scattered mind, it was like they were sucking the blood from Index.

"…Stop… Stop it! Shit!"

Kamijou's finally focused back to reality.

She began to frantically grab at the cleaning robots, forgetting that the robots were made necessarily heavy to prevent theft on top of having a relatively high horsepower.

In reality, the cleaning robots were only cleaning the continuously spreading stain on the floor and never actually touched Index's wound. But to Kamijou, she saw them as bugs swarming a festering wound.

She would have had difficulty moving aside even one of those heavy robots, much get rid of all three. While she poured all of her focus on one of them, the other two would head for the stain.

"Why?"

Kamijou felt tears well up in her eyes as she felt how powerless she was.

"Why?! I can cancel out the system of gods, but I can't move these toys!?"

Index remained silent do Kamijou's cries. His purple lips were so still that Kamijou was unsure he was even breathing.

"Shit, shit, shit! What happened? What the hell happened!? Who the hell did this to you!?"

"Hm? Oh, that would be us magicians who did that."

A voice came from behind Kamijou, making her freeze in place.

Kamijou cautiously turned her head around.

A girl was standing there who looked like she had just come out of the emergency staircase. She was over slightly taller than Kamijou, but with a slightly younger face. She must have been 14 or 15, similar to Index's age, so her great height must have been because she was a foreigner. Her clothes were a pure black version of the habits worn by church nuns, but it was unlikely you would find anyone who would call this girl a priest, even if you searched all over the world.

It may have been because she was upwind, but Kamijou could smell the horribly sweet perfume on the girl had around her even though she was over 15 meters away. Her waist-length red hair hung loosely in the breezeless corridor, and silver rings glittered on all ten of her fingers making it look like she had brass knuckles. Earrings hung on her ears, a cell phone strap could be seen sticking out of her pocket, a lit cigarette hung lazily at the edge of her mouth, and, as if for complete persona, she had a barcode-like tattoo underneath her right eye.

The air in the passageway around the girl was clearly strange to Kamijou.

It was as if the area was being governed by a completely different set of rules than the ones that Kamijou had become accustomed to. What Kamijou felt was neither fear nor anger, but confusion and unease. It was like Kamijou' wallet had been stolen in a foreign country with a language unfamiliar to her.

Kamijou could not recognize what this feeling was that she felt, but she realized what she was up against.

_This girl was a magician._

_The world Kamijou lived in had become a strange world where strange things like magicians exist._

Kamijou could not deny it. She still did not fully believe in magicians, but she somehow knew that this girl belonged to another world.

The magician girl lazily began to scratch her head as she looked past Kamijou like she wasn't even there and focused on the bloody corpse of Index.

"I heard that he got her pretty good but this... I had hoped that there wasn't anything to worry about because there wasn't a blood trail…"

The magician sighed as she looked at the cleaning robots gathered behind Kamijou.

From what Kamijou could understand, it was most likely that Index had been "sliced" elsewhere and had barely escaped here with his life before collapsing from blood loss. He surely must have left fresh blood as he ran, but the cleaning robots had followed and cleaned it all away.

"But… why?"

Kamijou gripped her hand into a fist, and bared her canines. Even though she could understand it, she could not accept that it had happened.

The magician looked over at Kamijou like she had just seen her for the first time.

"What? You mean why he came back here? Who knows? Maybe he forgot something."

The magician took a puff of her cigarette and blew a smoke out over the balcony.

"Come to think of it, he had his hat on yesterday when I shot him, yet now it's gone. Did he happen to lose it somewhere?"

Kamijou felt like every nerve in her body was alight with anger.

The magician standing in front of her had used the phrase "came back".

In other words, she must have been following Index's actions all day. She also knew that he had lost the hat to his Walking Church habits.

Earlier Index had said something about the magicians being able to search for the magic power of his Walking Church.

That meant that the magicians had been following Index by detecting the supernatural power in his clothes. They would have known the Walking Church was destroyed when the "signal" cut out… Index had mentioned that too.

But then, Index had to have known.

He had known, but he still seemed to have relied on the defensive powers of the Walking Church.

But why did he return? Why did he need to recover a portion of the destroyed and therefore useless Walking Church? Kamijou's left hand had rendered the entire Walking Church useless…

"…_Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?"_

Suddenly, it all clicked in Kamijou's mind.

Kamijou had never touched Index's hat and only destroyed the body of his clothes. Index's hat had continued to lie where it had fallen, in the corner of Kamijou's room.

That meant that it still functioned as a tracking device and would lead the magicians directly to Kamijou's room, if they were searching for it.

Index had not come back here in an attempt to hide from the magicians.

He had come back to protect Kamijou from the magicians.

"…You idiot."

Kamijou balled her fist up so tight that she felt it might break if she squeezed it any harder.

Index lacked any obligation, duty, or need to protect Kamijou from harm.

Yet he could not help heading back to do it.

"You idiot."

Kamijou felt tears freely falling down her face, as she bared her canines to the world.

Kamijou Touka was a complete stranger that Index only known for one half hour, yet he had risked his life to save her.

He somehow couldn't help but risk his life and return, all to prevent Kamijou from getting involved in his fight.

"You idiot!"

Kamijou punched the wall next to her in her rage.

With a look of pure bloodlust, Kamijou locked eyes with the magician.

The magician responded by taking another puff of her cigarette and blowing the smoke out over the balcony.

"C'mon now, don't look at me like that. It wasn't me that sliced him like a turkey and I doubt Kanzaki meant this to turn into something bloody. The Walking Church is supposed to be an absolute defense, after all. Really, he shouldn't have been injured at all. …Honestly now, what twist of fate led to that being destroyed? Unless St. George's Dragon has come again, I don't see how a Pope-class barrier could be broken."

"Why?"

Kamijou asked this despite not expecting an answer.

"Why would you do this? What motivation could you possibly have in hurting him?!"

Kamijou felt sick.

She felt as if her heart was beating 1000 times a second and was going to burst.

"You ran this boy to the point of death, denied him the mere thought of safety, and finally, cut him down like he was nothing at all! How can you stand there and pretend like there is nothing wrong with this?!"

In response to this, the magician sighed and moved the cigarette from one corner of her mouth to the other.

"Like I keep saying, Kanzaki cut him, not me. Besides whether he's injured or not, we have our orders to retrieve him."

"Retrieve him?"

Kamijou did not, could not understand what the magician said in the slightest.

The magician raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner, but then began to nod to herself.

"I see. You knew the word magician, so I assumed you were completely filled-in on the situation. I guess he was really afraid of getting you involved."

The magician exhaled more cigarette smoke.

"Yeah, we need to retrieve him. Though technically, it isn't him we're after; it's the 103,000 grimoires he has."

_Those damn books again._

"What books are you talking about? The 103,000 books that would be to many to carry around?! Stop with your delusions!"

In response to Kamijou's outburst, instead of getting mad, the magician was perfectly calm.

"This country isn't very religious, so I guess you don't understand."

The magician spread her arms out like she was about to make a grand announcement.

"The Index Librorum Prohibitorum. It is a list created by the church many years of all the evil books that will sully your soul if you just so happen to read them. Even if you were to announce that these dangerous books existed and take steps to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, people could still unknowingly acquire one. Thus, he has become something of a focal point for all those poisonous books. Reading just one of them would make a vegetable out of someone from an irreligious nation like this."

Kamijou ground her teeth slowly as she felt her rage about to boil over.

"What books are you talking about!? There are none there! Why do you keep saying-"

"They're there, in his memory."

The magician said this as if it was an obvious fact, easily seen by anyone. When Kamijou raised a quizzical eyebrow the magician began to explain.

"Do you know what a perfect memory is? It's the ability to memorize anything you see in an instant and never forget any of it. Simply put, it makes you a video camera that's always on. It isn't a condition related to my magic side or your science side. It's a perfectly normal condition."

The magician pointed at the still unmoving Index.

"That boy has been to the British Museum, the Louvre, the Vatican Library, the Pataliputra ruins, Château de Compiègne, Mont Saint-Michel Monastery, and everywhere else that grimoires that cannot be taken from are sealed. He absorbed these books into his perfect memory and stores them as a functioning grimoire library."

At the end of that explanation the magician sighed.

"Well, that has nothing to do with someone like me. At any rate, those 103,000 grimoires are quite dangerous to let run around unchecked, so I came to shelter him before anyone who would use themfor selfish purposes comes to take him away."

"You came… to shelter him?"

Kamijou was utterly astonished. How could this girl say this when faced with this scene?

The magician blew some more smoke out over the balcony.

"Yeah, that's right. No matter how sensible and strong willed he may be, that boy cannot stand up to torture or drugs. The mere thought of someone like him going through that breaks your heart, you know?"

"…"

Kamijou's body trembled.

She was not feeling rage, but utter disgust at the person in front of her.

They thought that they were right.

They thought that they were justified in hurting Index for some stupid reason.

The term "mad cult" oozed into Kamijou's brain.

"Who the hell…"

The thought of magicians that hunted people down without regard to think whether they were right or wrong made Kamijou want to throw up.

"Who the hell…"

Kamijou hand had already balled into a fist so tight that she thought it was going to break.

"Who the hell, do you think you are!?"

Kamijou was moving before she even thought about it. Her body, made of flesh and blood, rushed at the magician like a speeding bullet.

Kamijou's left hand was of no use to her sometimes. It would not help her defeat even a single delinquent who loved to chase her, it would not raise her constant abysmal scores on tests, nor would it earn her the respect of her classmates and underclassmen.

However, her left hand could be quite useful from time to time.

After all, it was perfect to punch out the bitch standing before her.

The magician, meanwhile, remained motionless in the face of the charging girl intent on punching her.

"I would prefer to call myself as Styx Magnus, but in this situation, I guess I'll have to go with Fortis931."

The magician sighed at this, though it felt like a sigh of resignation than one of frustration.

"That's my magic name. Are you familiar with those at all? It seems we magicians cannot give our true name when we use magic. It's a moldy old tradition, so I don't really understand it myself."

The two of them were 15 meters apart.

Kamijou filled half of that gap in just three vaulting steps.

"Fortis… I guess translated into Japanese, it would mean 'the strong'."

The magician scratched her head in, deep in thought, before shrugging.

"Well, the etymology doesn't really matter right now. What's important is that I have given that name. For us magicians, it is less a name we use for spell casting and more like…"

For the first time since Kamijou had layed eye on this girl, she smiled. Had Kamijou been calm, she would have had shivers run up and down her spine from the horrific face of that girl.

"…a name for murder, I guess."

The magician who called herself Styx casually grabbed the cigarette hanging lazily from her mouth and flicked it away.

The lit cigarette flew over the metal railing, and hit the wall of the neighboring building, leaving an orange line that traced the its path as an afterimage.

"Kenaz (Flames)."

The instant that Styx muttered, the orange line exploded.

A sword of flames appeared in a straight line emanating from the magicians hand. The paint around her gradually turned black like a picture set alight by fire.

Kamijou's rage disappeared as her instinct yelled at her to stop running and bring her hands up to cover her face.

Kamijou's Imagine Breaker could negate any kind of supernatural power with a single touch. Not even the Level 5 Biri Biri boy's Railgun, which could most likely destroy a nuclear shelter in one strike, was an exception to that rule.

But the truth was…

Kamijou was scared.

Kamijou was afraid of this unknown force known as magic.

She had never seen this strange new force before, so how in the world was she supposed to fight it?

"Purisaz Naupiz Gebo (A gift of pain for the giant.)"

Past the hands protecting her face, Kamijou could see the magician, standing there smiling with her twisted smile.

With the air of a person swatting a fly away, Styx Magnus swung the blazing flame sword horizontally.

The instant it touched Kamijou, it lost all shape and exploded in all directions like an erupting volcano.


	8. A Certain Battle with a Magician

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Maybe I overdid it a bit."

Styx scratched her head in front of what looked like the aftermath of a bombing.

Just to be sure, she looked around her to see if anyone was coming out into the hallway to see what was going on. It was the first day of summer break, so most of the residents of that dorm were probably out and about. However, it would be bad if some friendless shut-in was in one of those rooms.

Luckily for Styx, that did not seem to be the case. Satisfied with her look around she turned her attention back to the scene in front of her.

Her main problem was that she could not see directly ahead of her because the screen of flames and smoke.

She did not wonder whether or not the black haired girl was alive. That strike had created hellish flames with temperatures of 3000 degrees Celsius. At temperatures of just above 2000 degrees Celsius, the human body would melt before it burned. It was probable that the girl was now just a splotch splattered across the dorm wall.

Styx heaved a sigh that was a mixture of relief and distress. She was lucky to have drawn the girl away from the injured Index before she used her attack, but as things stood now she could not retrieve the boy priest.

The wall of flames blocked her from heading across to the other end of the passageway where Index was, though if there was another emergency staircase on the other side of the passageway, she could manage. However, it would hardly be of any use of her if Index was caught up in the inferno while she took such a long detour.

Styx shook her head in annoyance as she searched the smoke for a way through one last time.

"Thanks a lot you old hag. You've succeeded in annoying me."

Styx sighed but then smiled her twisted smile to herself.

"Well it's not like you could have done anything else. At that level, you couldn't beat me even if you came at me 1,000 times."

"Then what about the 1,001st time, you cheeky little brat?"

For an instant, the magician froze in place and felt her mouth drop open in disbelief.

With a roar, the wall of flames and smoke swirled like a tornado and was blown away.

Standing there, completely unharmed, was Kamijou Touka.

* * *

Kamijou took in a breath of sweet fresh air, and was happy to be alive. With that taken care of she looked down at her left hand.

"Honestly, what in the world was I so afraid of?"

Kamijou said this with a disinterested tone, but her face had a maniac grin stretched across it.

"I mean, this is the same left hand that tore Index's Walking Church to pieces."

Kamijou knew nothing about the supernatural power that was called magic.

She did not know how it worked or what went on where her eyes could not see. Most likely, she would only understand it if everything was explained to her from start to finish.

Regardless, there was one thing even an idiot like her could understand.

In the end, that fire was just another supernatural power.

"Now then…"

The crimson flames she had blown away had not been completely extinguished yet. There was a perfect circle of fire around Kamijou where the scorching flames continued to burn. But…

"Out of the way."

With that one statement, that one command, Kamijou touched the 3000 degree magical flames with her left hand and the rest of the fire vanished, like the blowing out of candles on a birthday cake.

Kamijou focused on the magician in front of her instead of the flames around her.

The magician girl was as flustered as any normal human would be facing such an unexpected turn of events.

In fact, this girl _was _nothing more than a normal human being.

If you punched her, she would feel that pain.

If you cut him with a knife, she would bleed red human blood.

The magician in front of Kamijou was nothing more than a mere human being.

Kamijou's legs were no longer cramped with fear of the unknown.

Her body was no longer frozen with nerves of fighting something greater than a human.

Her arms and legs moved normally.

Taking a deep breath, she charged.

* * *

"…Wha-?"

Meanwhile, Styx took a step backwards in shock from the impossible phenomenon before her.

From what had become of the surroundings, her attack could not have been a dud. But did that mean that this girl was powerful enough to withstand 3000 degrees?

If so she would not have been a human.

The charging girl paid no heed to Styx's confusion.

"Tch!"

Styx swung her right hand horizontally and a flame sword flew forcefully toward the bloodthirsty girl.

It exploded on contact, sending flames and smoke in every direction.

But the flames and smoke were blown away, and the girl continued to charge unfazed.

_How in the world is possible? Could she be using magic?_

Even as she thought this, Styx discarded it.

There could not be any magicians in this city where magic was simply considered a misunderstanding of the world.

Also, if Index, who lacked magic power, were to join forces with a magician, he would have had no reason to run or hide form Styx. Those 103,000 grimoires were a danger on a completely different scope even in comparison to the firing of a nuclear weapon.

But, Styx could not feel any magic power in the girl before her.

She would have been able to tell at first glance if the girl was a magician, and this girl did not have the "scent" of someone from the same world as her.

But if that was the case, why were none of her attacks affecting this bitch?

To hide the shuddering spreading through her body even though there was no chill in the air, Styx created another flame sword and threw it.

This time, it failed to even explode.

The black haired girl swatted at the flame sword with her left hand like it was an errant fly and it shattered like glass, disappearing into thin air.

This girl, this normal high school girl, shattered a 3000 degree flame sword with a left hand that should not have had any magical reinforcements of any kind.

"…Ah."

Abruptly, something floated up in the back of Styx's mind.

Index's Walking Church was Pope-class barrier that rivaled the one that protected the London cathedral in power. It should have been absolutely impossible for anything to destroy it unless the legendary dragon of St. George appeared from myth.

But Index's Walking Church had been utterly destroyed.

It had to have been destroyed since Kanzaki had sliced it like any other piece of normal cloth.

The only thing that could have done this was either a mistake in the fabric of the world, or a monster had appeared in this world.

"… … …"

By that point, the black haired girl had almost walked right up to Styx.

With one more step, she would be close enough to punch the magician.

" O. (One of the five great elements from which the world is constructed.) F. (The great flame of the beginning.)"

An unpleasant sweat began to drip from Stiyl's entire body as she began to chant in fear.

The creature before her in a summer uniform was, could not, be human, but a monster that had taken the form of a human.

" E. (It is a light of blessing that raises life and a light of judgment that punishes evil.) D. (It is overflowing with calm blessings and with freezing misfortune that destroys cold darkness.) S. (Its name is fire and its role is the sword.) P! (Be manifested and become the power that eats into my body!)"

The chest area of Styx's habit swelled out and burst open from the forces within.

With the roar of flames sucking in oxygen, a giant mass of fire shot out from within her clothes.

However it was not just merely a mass of flames.

The crimson flames had something black and dripping like fuel oil at its core, in the form of a human.

Its name was Innocentius.

Its meaning was "I will surely kill you."

* * *

The giant flame god that had suddenly appeared spread its arms and charged toward Kamijou like a bullet.

"Get out of my way."

Kamijou, unafraid, used a backhanded blow with the annoyed attitude of someone brushing aside a spider web. With a pathetic sounding explosion, the flame effigy scattered.

With that Kamijou blew away the magician's final trump card, shattering it into a million black, tar like pieces.

"…?"

Kamijou had no real reason for not taking her last step at that moment.

It was just that the magician who, instead of looking distraught at the destruction of her trump card, was smiling in an amused fashion. That expression would have been enough to make anyone hesitate before carelessly taking that last step.

The sound of a viscous liquid moving could suddenly be heard from all around.

"Wha-!?"

Kamijou jumped back in surprise, just as black tar like liquid came from all directions.

"Drat. If only you had been a tiny bit slower."

The magician voice mocked Kamijou from behind the freshly reformed flame god.

If Kamijou had taken that single last step, she would most certainly have been enveloped by those flames from all directions.

Kamijou's mind was in disarray because of the scene before her eyes.

Her left hand should have been able to negate even the systems of god with one strike. Any supernatural power, even the one known as magic, should have been negated with one touch.

Yet…

The oil like mass within the flames writhed, changing form to now be holding a sword in both of its hands.

No, it was not a sword but rather a giant cross.

The fire god lifted the cross up with both of its hands and aimed a downwards swing at Kamijou's head.

"…!"

Kamijou immediately held up her left hand to receive the blow. Disregarding her left hand, Kamijou was a simply a high school student. She lacked the battle skills needed to fight in a real battle.

With a crashing noise, the flaming cross and the erasing left hand clashed.

"So it seems that power of yours isn't all mighty."

Even though she desperately wanted to prove the magician wrong, Kamijou struggled as the mass of flames failed to even disappear.

Instantly, Kamijou knew she was going to be the one to lose this struggle.

Her opponent's entire body could be a weapon, while she could only use his left hand.

"So tell me how does it feel fighting Innocentius? I don't get to use him often, and when I do my opponents aren't in the state to talk with me."

Kamijou gritted her teeth to the magician's taunting questions, struggling to keep the flaming cross that neared her face millimeter by millimeter at bay.

Despite the insanity of her current situation, Kamijou just narrowly managed to realize one fact.

The mass of flames known as Innocentius was definitely reacting to her Imagine Breaker. However, it was being revived after it's annihilation, meaning that, most likely, the lag between its annihilation and revival was less than a tenth of a second.

"Damnit…"

Kamijou's hand had been sealed.

If she let go for even an instant, she would likely be turned to ash.

"Dammit! What the hell is going on!?"

"Runes."

Kamijou, even though there was a raging hot fire near her, shivered.

Due to the danger in front of her, she could not turn around, but Kamijou was certain that she heard someone's voice.

"Twenty four characters used as a magic language by Germanic tribes since the 2nd century and are found in the roots of the Old English language."

Kamijou could not believe it was Index's voice despite clearly knowing it was. He had to have been so beat up and bloody, yet he spoke so calmly.

"Attacking Innocentius will have no effect. Unless the runes engraved into the walls, floors, and ceiling are eliminated, it will revive as many times as is necessary to kill its target."

Kamijou's curiosity overrode her instinct to focus on the beast in front of her.

Supporting her left wrist with her right hand, she just barely managed to keep the cross from advancing any further. With that done, Kamijou _timidly_ turned around.

The boy was still collapsed where he had fallen, but Kamijou was unable to give "that" the name "Index". It had eyes which were utterly lacking in emotion and paid no heed to the wound on its back. In that moment it seemed to truly be nothing more than a system meant to explain magic.

Kamijou could only stare in disbelief.

"You're… You're Index, right?"

"Correct. I am the grimoire library belonging to Necessarius, the nullified Parish of the Anglican Church. My full name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but that can be abbreviated to Index for your convenience."

The way that grimoire library named Index was acting, Kamijou almost forgot about the giant flame god trying to kill her.

"With my introduction complete, I will now return to my explanation of rune magic. Simply put, it is like a reflection of the moon on a lake. No matter how many times you strike the lake surface, it has no meaning. If you want to destroy the moon on the lake surface, you must first turn on the real moon floating in the night sky."

After hearing that cold emotionless explanation, Kamijou finally remembered the enemy in front of her.

From what Index was saying, the raging fire before Kamijou could not be destroyed just by fighting it. She somehow had to remove these "runes" before she could defeat it. However she was blocked from moving so she was unable to do anything even if she wanted to.

"Ashes to ashes…"

Kamijou looked up in shock. From beyond the giant flame god, a flame sword had appeared in the magician's right hand.

"...Dust to dust…"

Another sword, this time a bluish-white one, extended silently from her left.

"…Squeamish Bloody Rood!"

With those power-filled words, the magician swung the two flame swords horizontally so that they would slice straight through the giant flame god from left and right like a giant pair of scissors.

With his left hand sealed by Innocentius, Kamijou could block nothing else.

Before Kamijou could even shout out, the two flame swords struck the giant flame god and the forces morphed into them into one enormous, exploding bomb.


	9. A Certain Battle's Resolution

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

When all the flames and smoke cleared away, the hallway looked like a scene from hell.

The metal railings had warped like melting sugar sculptures and even the floor tiles had begun melting into something glue-like. The paint on the walls had peeled back so much that the concrete was clearly visible.

However, there was no sign of that black haired girl who had been there seconds before.

Styx could hear the footsteps of someone running along the passageway downstairs and sighed.

"Innocentius."

With that annoyed command, the flames that had spread out across the area returned to their original form. The flame god jumped over the railing and began to quickly chase after the footsteps.

While she was outwardly annoyed, internally, Styx was astonished at the actions of the "normal" high school girl.

She had done nothing all that amazing, but rather something so simple that it was crazy. In the moment before the explosion, in the instant when Styx had sliced through Innocentius with her two flame swords, the girl had let go and jumped over the railing.

As she fell, she had grabbed onto the railing one floor below and pulled herself up. She had done this with no lifeline and had pulled it off with pure guts and courage.

Styx was always surprised at what humans did to escape death, and she was particularly surprised at what this girl had done. Had she been anyone else, Styx might have let her get away.

"But…"

Styx clicked her tongue.

That girl now knew the weakness of the Styx's runes thanks to the knowledge of Index's 103,000 grimoires. As he had said, the rune magic Styx used was activated by carved engravings spread across an area. That meant that getting rid of the engravings would negate even her most powerful magic.

"So what if she knows?"

Styx's expression showed no sign of concern at the thought.

"Nobody can do it. It is utterly impossible to completely get rid of the runes carved into this building."

* * *

"Damn it! What the hell is this!?"

Kamijou could not help but to shout out when she saw what lay before her.

After escaping from the crazy girl a floor above, Kamijou did not need to wonder where the runes carved into the large dorm building were. In fact, she had already found them.

On the floor, the doors, and even ironically of the fire extinguisher, scraps of paper about the size of telephone cards were stuck all over. Going off Index's advice, Kamijou would have to tear off every single one of these papers in order to defeat that flaming mass.

However, could Kamijou tear off every single one of the tens of thousands of slips of paper before the magician ran off?

With the roar of oxygen being absorbed interrupting Kamijou's rest, a human-shaped inferno dropped down onto the opposite side of the metal railing.

"Shit!"

If she was caught again, living, much less tearing off the runes, would be impossible.

Kamijou immediately made a dash for the emergency staircase closest to her side. As she moved further and further down, she could see the scraps of paper taped to the corners of the staircase and ceiling with strange symbols had to have been runes written on them.

To Kamijou it was clear that they had been mass produced by a copy machine. She suddenly recalled that the appendix of some shoujo manga could be used for tarot divination and one could even mass produce the bible at a print shop.

_Mixing magic with technology really isn't fair._

Kamijou really felt like crying.

Tens of thousands of those "runes" could be taped up all over the building. Short of blowing up the building, was there a way for her to get rid of every single one of them? For all she knew, that magician was taping up new runes at that very moment.

As if to cut off her train of thought, Innocentius dropped down from farther up the staircase.

"Shit!"

Kamijou gave up on heading further down the staircase and ran out into the passageway on her floor. When the giant flame god struck the floor, it charged into the passageway after Kamijou.

The passageway went straight to a dead end, meaning Kamijou had no way to escape Innocentius when it came at her at full speed.

"…!"

According to the display next to the entrance of the emergency staircase, Kamijou was on the 2nd floor.

With a roar, Innocentius charged straight forward in order to kill it's target.

"Damn it!"

Instead of using her left hand or running along the passageway, Kamijou took another stupid risk.

Kamijou jumped over the second floor railing.

It was only when she was in midair that she realized that the ground below was asphalt and that a number of bicycles were parked there.

"Shiiitttttttt!"

Kamijou twisted her body and just barely managed to land between two bicycles.

However she still landed on hard asphalt. She tried to absorb the shock of impact with her knees, but she still heard an unpleasant noise come from her ankle. It did not feel broken, but having a hurt ankle would not help her day.

Before she could even catch her breath, Kamijou heard the roar of flames absorbing oxygen coming from above.

"Can I get a break at all!?"

Kamijou scrambled along the ground, knocking bicycles over as she did so.

But nothing happened.

"?"

Kamijou looked up with a puzzled look.

Still making it's roaring noise, Innocentius was clinging to the second story railing and staring down at Kamijou. It was almost like there was some sort of an invisible wall preventing it from following Kamijou any farther.

Perhaps the runes had only been placed on the dorm building, meaning that Kamijou had managed to escape the magician's flames by leaving the building.

Upon seeing that, Kamijou felt like she understood the unknown system of magic a little bit more. She knew that her opponent acted based on set rules similar to the psychics Kamijou knew.

Kamijou sighed in relief.

Having been freed from any immediate threat on her life, all of the adrenaline left Kamijou's body, and she layed down on the ground without even thinking.

As she was assaulted with a feeling that was more like a languid exhaustion, she started to wonder if she could escape all danger if she simply just ran away. However that did not solve the problem of the magician.

"I know. The police could probably deal with her."

Academy City's police were something like an anti-esper special unit, with their servicemen being hardened former military. Kamijou could just notify them rather than risk her own life again.

Kamijou's phone had been destroyed earlier this morning, so she desperately looked up and down the street for a pay phone.

"…_Then will you follow me to the depths of hell?"_

Kamijou clenched her fist.

She wasn't running away.

She wasn't running away, but…

In the same situation, Index had come back for Kamijou. Index did not want her to experience the hell he had been through.

"Damn it. I don't want to follow you to the depths of hell, you idiot."

Even though it sounded like she was giving up, Kamijou smiled.

"So the only other option is for me to drag you back from hell."

Kamijou finally knew what she had to do.

She may not know how magic worked, but Kamijou did not need to know the workings of that which she could not see. For example, she could send an email without knowing the circuit diagram of her cell phone worked.

Even if she failed in her attempt, it was still better than doing nothing at all.

A metal railing and glowing orange, warped pipe shot towards Kamijou, who frantically rolled out of the way.

"You know throwing things is bad manners, right?

She may have made up her mind, but Kamijou still had to do something about that Innocentius before she could save Index. The real problem was the tens of thousands of runes scatter all over the building. Was there really a way to get rid of all of the runes?

Another melting pipe came shooting down landing centimeters away from her head.

"…Y'know, I'm really surprised the fire alarm hasn't gone off yet with all of this going on."

It had just been an offhand comment, but Kamijou froze in place.

_The fire alarm?_

* * *

In an instant, all the fire alarms installed around the building all went off at once.

"!?"

Amid that storm of roaring noise, Styx looked up at the ceiling.

Without a second's delay, the sprinklers on the ceiling sent out a typhoon-like torrent of manmade rain.

"That… utter… bitch…"

As her broken habit was soaked by the man-made rain, Styx had the look of a person who wanted to murder someone.

Since having the firefighters called in would have been a pain, Styx purposefully had written her orders for Innocentius so that it would not trigger the security sensors. This had meant that it was the black haired bitch who had hit the fire alarm, thinking that doing so would put out Innocentius's flames.

"…"

While the notion was almost laughably ridiculous, Styx felt as if all the blood vessels in her head would burst if she continued to get soaked for such a foolish reason.

Styx focused on the red fire alarm in annoyance.

While it was easy enough to set the alarm off, she could not stop it herself. It was summer break, so most of the residents of the dorm were out, but the situation could turn bothersome if the firefighters arrived.

"…Damn it."

Styx looked around the area and then quickly picked up Index to leave.

Her goal was to recover Index, so there was no reason or need for her to get caught up in killing that bitch. Given how long it would take for the firefighters to arrive, she could escape and leave Innocentius on auto-chase mode, meaning that the girl would get a nice flaming embrace if she gave chase.

As the rain continued to fall on her head, Styx began to wonder if the elevator was still working. She had heard that sometimes elevators were made to stop during emergencies.

That would be quite depressing for Styx, seeing how she was on the 7th floor, and she was carrying an unconscious person around the size of her down stairs.

That was why Styx was initially relieved to hear the microwave oven-like "ding" come from the elevator.

However she quickly came to her senses.

It was the evening of summer break and she had already checked to make sure all of the students had left the dorm, leaving it deserted.

So who was it and why did they need the elevator?

The doors of the elevator clanked as they opened up, and a single footstep on the wet floor reverberated through the passageway.

Styx had no idea why her body was trembling as she saw who was standing there.

It was Kamijou Touka.

_What happened to Innocentius? _

Thoughts whirled around in Styx's head.

Innocentius was like an auto tracking missile. After it locked on to a target, it could not be escaped. No matter where you ran or hid, it would use its 3000 degree flames to melt through obstacles and continue its chase. It was not something that could simply be escaped by running around a building for a few minutes.

Yet she stood there.

Yet that bitch stood there.

That bitch stood there unfazed, unstoppable, unassailable, and most of all, an unequivocal natural enemy to Styx.

"Come to think of it, aren't runes supposed to be carved into the walls and the floor?"

The girl said this as the man made rain made her shirt see through.

"Really now, you're just so damn amazing. To be honest, I wouldn't have had no way to win if you had carved them with a knife. However there was one flaw with your plan."

As she spoke, the girl pointed above her head.

At the ceiling… and the sprinkler still spewing from it.

Styx blinked, and almost laughed aloud.

"You can't be serious! 3000 degree flames couldn't be put out with just this!"

"Don't be stupid. I'm not trying to put out the flames. I'm talking about those things you put all over people's homes."

Styx's elation died when she recalled the tens of thousands of rune papers set up around the building.

Paper was weak to water. Even kindergartners knew that.

By spraying water all over the building with the sprinklers, it did not matter if there were tens of thousands of the runes. This girl did not even need to run around to defeat Styx. She just had to press a single button.

The muscles in Styx's face spasmed out of control as her face twisted into insane smile.

"Innocentius!"

The instant he shouted that, the elevator door behind Kamijou melted and the giant flame god crawled into the passageway.

As the raindrops hit its body of flames, they evaporated making it like a beast's breathing.

"Ha ha ha. Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Ah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!'

Styx could not help but laugh like a maniac.

"Amazing! You really aren't as big of an idiot like I took you for! But you really lack in experience. Copy paper isn't the same as some cheap toilet paper. Just getting it a bit wet isn't going to destroy it!"

Styx pointed at the black haired girl with the air of tyrannical command.

"Kill that bitch right now!"

Innocentius swung its arm like a hammer.

"What about the ink?"

The girl did not even turn around. She simply reached behind her and touched the mass of flames with her left hand.

Innocentius exploded in all directions with a laughably pathetic noise.

Styx's heart truly did stop for an instant out of shock.

After being blown away, Innocentius did not revive. The black, fuel oil-like chunks of flesh were splattered about the area and all they chunks could do were feeble squirms.

Styx was utterly speechless.

"Im…Impossible… How… How! My runes haven't even been destroyed yet!"

"The ink."

It seemed to take 5 years for the girl's voice to reach Styx's ears.

"Even if the copy paper hasn't been destroyed, the water will still make the ink come off. Though, it seems like the water didn't take out every last one."

The squirming pieces of Innocentius disappeared into thin air one at a time as the manmade rain continued to flow from the sprinklers.

It was as if the ink on the copy paper taped all over the building was coming off one by one, causing Innocentius to lose power bit by bit.

The last piece of Innocentius dissolved and disappeared.

There was nothing left to protect her.

"Now then."

That single phrase made Styx flinch.

"Innocentius… Innocentius!"

Styx's words were like those of someone shouting into a phone receiver after being hung up on.

The black haired girl took a resounding step toward Styx.

"Inno…centius…"

Styx said this, but not a single thing in the world responded to her.

The black haired bitch took another step Styx, her blood thirst apparent in the air.

"Innocentius… Innocentius, Innocentius!"

Styx shouted as tears began to well up in her eyes, but not a single thing in the world changed for her.

The black haired demon took a deep breath, and finally began to charge.

"A-Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Squeamish Bloody Rood!"

Styx roared this with all her fear and emotion, but not even a single sword of flames appeared, much less a giant flame god.

The girl drew near Styx and clenched her fist.

She clenched her utterly useless left hand.

She clenched her left hand that would be of no use unless it came in contact with the supernatural.

She clenched her left hand that would not defeat even a single delinquent that constantly chased her, or raise her horrible test scores, or earn her the respect of her underclassmen.

However, that left hand could be very useful.

After all, Kamijou could use it to punch out the bitch standing before her.

Kamijou Touka's fist slammed into the magician's face.

The magician's body flew into the air and the back of his head struck the wall at the end of the passage.


	10. A Certain Teachers Homevisit

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

It was nighttime, and the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks rang out from the main road and echoed by.

The dorm had seemed mostly abandoned since it was summer break, but the triggering of the fire alarm and the subsequent sprinklers had changed matters. In no time at all, the empty dorm was filled with fire trucks and onlookers.

"Well what now?"

Kamijou clicked her tongue as she looked on from a back alley between two adjacent buildings. On her back sat the still bloodied Index his hat now firmly set on his head.

Kamijou had already used her left hand to destroy the tracking function of the hat before taking it with her. She would have left it intact and abandoned it in some arbitrary place so she could fooled the pursuers, but Index obstinately insisted that he take it with him.

So now, Kamijou now sat in the alleyway, desperately trying to figure out what she could do.

If she could just hand over Index to an ambulance, that would be great. However that was out of the question.

Academy City fundamentally disliked outsiders, which was why the walls surrounding the city were 30 meters high and three satellites constantly monitored all activities. Even the drivers of the trucks that supplied convenience stores needed an exclusive ID to get in.

If Index, an outsider without an ID, were to be hospitalized, information would be spread at lightning speed.

Since his enemy was part of some organization, information would be as easy resource to collect.

If Index were to be attacked while he was healing, the danger would spread to those around her as well. Also, he would be defenseless if he were to be attacked while in surgery.

However…

"Damn it, I can't just leave him like this."

"I'll… be fine. If you… can just stop the bleeding…"

Index's voice was weak and showed absolutely no hint of the mechanical voice he had donned earlier.

That was why Kamijou immediately knew that what Index had said was flat out wrong. His wound was beyond something a complete amateur could solve by wrapping in bandages.

Kamijou was accustomed to fights, and she had performed first aid on herself for wounds best kept secret. But the wound on Index's back was bad enough to make even a doctor to freak out.

Out of options, there remained only one thing that Kamijou could rely on.

"Hey, hey! Can you hear me?"

Kamijou lightly shook Index in order to keep him awake.

"Is there anything that can heal wounds in those 103,000 grimoires of yours?"

Index's breathing was shallow due to blood loss.

"There is… but…"

Kamijou's face lit up for an instant until the word "but" belatedly caught in her mind.

"You… can't do it…"

Index small breath shattered Kamijou's hopes of saving him.

"Even if I… taught you how to do… the spell… your power would surely… get in the way… of it… even if you perfectly… imitated it."

Kamijou looked down at his left hand in in quiet disbelief.

Imagine Breaker.

That power residing there had indeed completely negated the red haired magician's flames. So there was a chance that it would negate Index's recovery magic in the same way.

Kamijou clenched her left hand in anger.

"Not again… Not again damn it! Why is it always my left hand's fault!?"

After her outburst Kamijou calmed herself down as she thought about it.

If she couldn't do it, that just meant that she needed to call someone such as her blue haired class representative or that Biri Biri boy, Misaka Mitoko, who could. The faces of a few tough people whom she would have no worries about getting involved in this kind of trouble floated up in her mind.

"No… That's not what I meant."

Kamijou looked at the boy on her back with questioning fear.

"It's not your left hand… That's that problem…The problem is… that you're an esper."

In that broiling night, Index shivered like he was on a snowy mountain in midwinter. Kamijou struggled to keep herself from doing the same thing.

"Magic is not… something to be used by 'talented people' like you espers. 'Untalented people', normal humans, wanted… to do what the 'talented people' could do… so they created spells and rituals… which are known as magic."

Kamijou remained silent, which Index took for confusion.

"You don't get it…? The circuitry is different between 'talented people' and 'untalented people…' 'Talented people' cannot use the systems created… for the 'untalented people…'"

Kamijou shivered in anger and fear.

It was true that the students of Academy City had strange things done to them in order to produce psychic powers, and that made their bodies different to normal humans.

However Kamijou could not believe it.

No, it was that she did not want to believe it.

Yet the fact remained, that the 2.3 million students that lived in Academy City had undergone some part of the power development Curriculum.

Even if it wasn't visibly apparent to the world.

Even if they could not bend a spoon with efforts so strenuous they burst the blood vessels in their brain.

Even if they were the weakest of espers, they were still different from a normal person.

In other words, none of the people who lived in that city could use magic, the one option Kamijou had that could save this boy.

There was a way to save the person suffering before her, and yet there was no a single way to do it.

"Damn it…"

Kamijou felt the tears streaming down her face in frustration.

"How does this happen? How is this even fair to anyone!?"

Index's trembling grew worse as he lost more blood by the second.

Kamijou found the most difficult thing to bear was the fact that Index was receiving the punishment for her own inability.

"'Talented' my ass."

Kamijou spit this out as she looked up at the moon in hatred, angered that it dared be beautiful during this crisis.

"If the students of this city were so talented they could save you without a problem!"

Kamijou froze in shock.

She had suddenly noticed that there was something off about her thought process.

"Hey, any normal 'talentless' person can use magic, right?"

Index took another shallow breath before continuing.

"…Eh? Yes that is fine."

Kamijou tried not to get excited as she continued to talk.

"And this isn't going to end up being some useless attempt because the person has no talent for magic, right?"

Index shook his head.

"You don't… need to worry about that… As long as they can prepare and perform it correctly… even a middle school student could be able to do it. Although, if they get any of the steps wrong, the pathways in their brain, as well as their neural circuitry, will be fried… However with the knowledge of my 103,000 grimoires, it shouldn't be a problem."

Kamijou smiled as she looked up at the moon, shining its beauty down upon the city of science.

It was true that the 2.3 million students lived in Academy City had all been developed to have some kind of psychic power. This was because students were still growing and their brains were still going through development.

"I hope he hasn't gone to sleep yet."

However, the adult teachers that developed the students had never experienced the development program, so they were relatively normal humans.

As Kamijou began to run, the face of a certain teacher appeared in her mind.

It was the face of a foreigner with flaming red hair and the face of a highschooler.

* * *

"This must be the place…"

After 15 minutes of walking through back alleys, Kamijou arrived at what she assumed was her teachers house.

Not knowing where Springfield lived, she had called the blue haired class representative. She wondered why the girl had the teacher's house address, and had the sneaking suspicion she was a stalker.

Springfield's place of residence was a two story wooden apartment building that looked so old and worn down that it looked like it must have weathered the bombing of Tokyo. It had a washing machine sitting out in the passageway, so it must have had nothing like a bath.

Normally, Kamijou would have joked about it for the next 10 minutes, but right now it didn't even raise a single funny thought in her mind.

After quickly checking the nameplates on the first floor doors, she climbed up the run-down and rusty metal staircase and began to check the doors there. When she arrived at the door furthest back on the second floor, she had finally found the nameplate which had "Negi Springfield" written on it in katakana.

Kamijou rang the doorbell twice and began to pray that the highschool aged looking teacher had yet to go to sleep.

"Please tell me you're not some door to door salesmen who likes to annoy people at 1 in the morning. If you are that's just going to ruin my night."

The door opened and Kamijou had a relatively short blush. Springfield was standing there, shirtless, and covered in sweat. If she had to make a guess he had probably been working out before Kamijou got there.

"Kamijou-san? What in the world are you doing here?"

Kamijou shook the maiden like thoughts out of her head and focused back on what she came here for.

"I'm in a bit of trouble right now Sensei. Do you mind if I come in?"

While it wasn't Index's wound was facing away from Springfield, it was painfully clear that there was something wrong with the boy on Kamijou's back. Combined with the singed look about Kamijou and the time of day, Springfield did not hesitate for a second.

"Get in and lay the boy down on the futon. Is there anyone chasing you?"

The utter calmness in Springfield's voice brought a smile to Kamijou's face.

"Don't worry about that Sensei. I managed to lose them a while ago, now we just need a place to rest."

She had been initially afraid about getting him involved in her problems, but the way he could instantly grasp the gist of the situation made her sure she had made the right choice.

As Kamijou entered the small one room apartment, she was surprised by how bare the room was. While it had all the basic amenities one would expect, it lacked any sort of human feel to it. No pictures lined the walls and shelves, nor any form of decoration to give the room a home feel. To Kamijou it was like this room had never been lived in.

"Is something the matter Kamijou-san?"

Kamijou shook her head. There was time to figure out Springfield's personal life later, right now she had to worry about Index.

She laid the mini priest face down on the futon to ensure his wound did not touch the floor. His clothes hid the actual wound from view, but the dark red liquid continued to flow out of the boy's body unabated.

Springfield leaned down to get a better look at the torn fabric, but did nothing to touch the boy. He must have wanted to avoid doing something unnecessary or dangerous.

"This looks like this is a bit beyond my expertise Kamijou. I'll call the ambulance; you stay here and make sure he doesn't get any worse."

Before Kamijou could stop him, Springfield got up and walked towards his phone. His phone was strangely a black rotary phone that looked like it belongs in an old American movie.

"I would not suggest that."

Both Kamijou and Springfield reflexively turned toward Index.

The boy was still sprawled out limply on the floor but his eyes were silently open. Those eyes were colder than the pale moonlight outside and more precise than the gears of a clock. Those eyes were so perfectly serene that they looked inhuman.

"Warning: Chapter 2, Verse 6. The loss of the life force known as mana due to blood loss has exceeded the set amount and John's Pen mode has been activated. …If the current situation persists, this body will lose the necessary amount of life force and expire in about 15 minutes according to the international standard time defined by the clock tower in London. Following the direction provided will rectify the situation, so I suggest listening."

Negi's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he looked between Kamijou and Index.

"Kamijou-san…What's going on?"

Kamijou had arrived at the hardest part of the plan. If she told him the truth, he might not believe it. If she told him nothing, he might not help. That left Kamijou with one option.

"The truth is Sensei… I need you to talk to this boy for me."

Springfield raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Explain Kamijou-san."

Kamijou looked away from Springfield's critical gaze sheepishly.

"W-Well, you see… it's my fault that this boy got hurt and now he's gone a little loopy. He won't listen to me and stops me every time I try and call an ambulance, so I just need you to distract him for a bit."

"Really now Kamijou-san? That's all you need me to do?"

Instantly Kamijou knew she had failed. Of course it would seeing as how she was a horrible liar. She was rapidly running out of time so the only other choice was to postpone an explanation.

"Sensei, I-"

"Fine then."

Kamijou looked up at the smiling Springfield in surprise.

"If all I need to do is distract him while you call the ambulance then its fine. As long as I'm not performing surgery then I'm good for anything."

Kamijou bowed her head to hide her smile from her teacher. The biggest problem was now out of the way and Index was going to be healed.

Now this was the hard part for Kamijou. Turning around Kamijou lightly tapped Index's shoulder.

"So Index, is there anything I can do here? Can I stay to do anything at all?"

Those clear empty eyes looked directly at Kamijou.

"There is nothing you can do here. The best option for you would be to leave so as to not ruin the ritual."

That overly clear and concise wording made Kamijou clench his left hand into a fist as tears began to well up in her eyes.

She quickly stood up and turned away from Index and directly to the still smiling Springfield.

"…Well then, sensei… I'm… gonna go look for a phone."

"Ok then. Hurry back then Kamijou-san."

Kamijou ignored the slight unease Springfield's words made her feel, and opened the door. Once she was outside she clenched her fist so tight that it felt like it was breaking.

She could do nothing but leave.

Kamijou began to run through the shining city of science that glittered in the night. As she ran she clenched her left hand that could negate the systems of God but could not help her save a single person.


	11. A Certain Negotiation of Magicians

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

As soon as Kamijou had run out of the room in her confused state, Negi reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Lighting it with in a lazy motion, he exhaled the first puff of smoke with a grin.

"Really now Kamijou-san, you need to be more careful about who you trust."

Negi took another puff of his cigarette and blew the smoke out in a playful manner, completely unfazed by the fact there was a dying person lying in the room a few feet from him.

"But you know, I guess I can forgive you given the situation. I mean magicians are specialists in hiding in plain sight."

The emotionless Index slowly began to sit up, moving completely fine but spilling blood everywhere from the wound on his back.

"You would be the best one to give that advice, magician."

Negi began to chuckle darkly as he turned to the still injured boy. The man's twisted smile would have scared any normal human into submission, but Index simply looked on.

"So you were able to tell I was a magician. Tell me, when were you sure of it?"

"As soon as I laid eyes on you, it was clear to tell you were a magician. Your excess mana is spilling out in such large amounts that anyone trained to look for it could tell from this distance."

Negi began to scratch his head as he continued to grin; the cigarette smoke filling the room with the disgusting smell of nicotine.

"Really now? I had thought that my barriers would have shielded me from detection, but it seems was pretty worthless to try."

Index shook his head, his emotionless eyes not showing any hint of sarcasm.

"Your barriers work, it's just that there are none in the vicinity of this room. You probably did not expect for anyone from the magic side of the world to come here, so you simply neglected to set up any barriers."

"…Very astute of you."

Negi's grin had already disappeared as fast as it had come.

"So tell me, Index Librariom Prohibitarum. Why would you let Kamijou leave you in the hands of an unknown magician? You know what could happen if I use just one of your books."

Index locked gazes with Negi and started at him with those lifeless eyes. Negi started back, unblinking.

"I understand the risk of leaving my life, and the 103,000 gathered grimories in your hands. However the current situation demands that I take risks."

Index then pointed to the wound on his back, as if to indicate to Negi what his current situation was.

"I suggest that we hurry up and commence the ritual. The next possible chance we have to perform it is in 5 minutes 24 seconds based off the international time set by the clock tower in London. Quick preparation is necessary for it to succeed."

Negi sat down across the table from Index and sighed out another puff of smoke.

"You know you aren't leaving me a lot choice in the matter. I don't even know the situation that got you here. If you could explain that to me, I might be convinced to assist you."

"Explanations can be provided at a later time when the threat of me expiring has passed. To commence the ritual-"

"I must insist that you explain the current situation."

Index's emotionless eyes locked with Negi's unblinking ones.

It was quite clear that there was no way around for the injured priest.

"I agree to give you an explanation of how I got into this situation. However it will be a compressed version of what happened over the past 24 hours. Is that acceptable for you?"

Negi sighed at the same time as a grin began to cross his face.

"That is an agreeable compromise to me."

Thus Index launched into his explanation right away.

"About 24 hours ago, at 01:37:46 AM Japanese standard time, I was attacked by two magicians who had been pursuing me for the previous year. This attack came on suddenly and forced me to take a risk and enter this city in order to escape them. During the chase, one of the magicians shot me with a fireball while I was jumping between two buildings, causing me to fall onto one of the balconies. That black haired girl's balcony."

Negi raised his hand between Index's sentences, showing that he wished to interject. When Index did not continue, he began to talk.

"So these magicians… What organization do they belong to? If it's a Japanese group, then I might know them."

"It is unknown at this time what group, if any, they belong to. If it helps, one of the magicians is a Japanese man who seems to wield some form of improvement magic along with sword skills, while the other is a rune magician that specializes in flame magic."

As Index finished speaking he coughed slightly, and a drop of blood flew across and landed on Negi's face. A river of blood then began to run from the corner of Index's mouth and down to his chin. All the while Index's eyes remained completely emotionless.

"Forgive me for that. My body seems to be breaking down faster than I had expected."

"It's okay."

Negi wiped the speck of blood away with a disinterested motion, before taking another puff of his cigarette.

"I have not heard anything about those two before, but I have been disconnected from the magic side for a while. Please continue."

"At around 06:34:24 AM, I was awoken from my unconsciousness by that girl, and after sharing a conversation, food, and a… traumatic experience, I departed this girl's company to search for a piece of my Walking Church which I had lost. When I realized that the piece I was looking for was back at the girl's room, and not somewhere in the city, I was attacked by the magicians again and received this wound. I managed to elude them, but when I reached the girl's room I had lost so much blood that I passed out."

"And let me guess. That was when Kamijou returned and met the flame magician who was chasing you. She beat them and managed to rescue you before coming here. Am I correct?"

Index nodded in agreement, and as he did Negi sighed out another puff of smoke.

"I see. So this was all a big coincidence that Kamijou got drawn into this and brought you to me, wasn't it?"

"You could summarize it as that if you choose to. Now 3 minutes have passed since the start of this conversation. I suggest we hurry and start the ritual before the chance passes."

Negi looked across the room at Index and smiled.

"Sorry but I don't think I will help you with that."

The atmosphere in the room became deathly chill. Index still had emotionless eyes as he started at Negi.

"Will you please give me your reasoning for not assisting another human who is close to expiring?"

Negi took another long puff of his cigarette before responding.

"It's simple really. I have no reason to return any favors to the magic side, and would prefer to live apart from it if I could. Helping you might have unforeseen consequences for me, or attract people I would otherwise keep at arm's length. Also I do not want to become a target for these magicians and would prefer for them to leave as soon as possible."

"I simply need to recover from my wound. Once the ritual is performed I will depart before the magicians-"

"Don't try to lie to me."

Negi dismissed Index's argument with a wave of his hand.

"I have seen some horrible wounds in my time, and something like yours will take more than just some ritual to heal. I would take at least 3 days of bed rest just to get you back on your feet."

Index, even though he was seemingly being stopped on all fronts, continued to press his hope for rescue with those emotionless eyes.

"If it is a reward you seek, I could negotiate with the Anglican Church to give you something in return for your services."

Negi took another disinterested puff of his cigarette.

"If you even mentioned my name to the Anglican Church, they would more likely to send an armed attack force to apprehend me, rather than any kind of reward."

"I can give you the chance to read one of a select group of books within my collection in exchange for the healing. These books will not cause severe damage to you if read them, but neither will they bestow much power."

Negi took another puff of his cigarette.

"I don't really want to read any of your books. While I'm not the strongest mage in the world, I don't think I need to use any of your magic books."

"Then what about helping out that girl?"

"…"

The cigarette remained motionless in Negi's hand. Index, sensing a weakness, began pressing the man across from him.

"That girl is one of your student's, correct? If you should neglect to heal me, it would cause her great pain and maybe cause her to hate you. Would that be a sufficient outcome for you?"

"…Kamijou…should learn sooner rather than later that you can't save everyone in front of you. If she hates me for the rest of her life but learns that lesson… then I'd be fine with it."

With that Negi took another puff of his cigarette.

Index opened his mouth to argue further, but then froze. Looking up to the ceiling he remained silent for a moment.

"The chance to perform the ritual has passed. Next chance will be 12 hours from now. Taking this new information in to account, John's Pen mode will now begin to shut down non-essential functions in order to conserve energy."

With that Index slumped forward onto the table. Negi leisurely took another puff of his cigarette.

"I'm sorry that I could not help you, but my goals simply contradict with me saving you."

Index's head rolled to one side, and for the first time, there was emotion in his eyes.

The emotion was resignation.

"It's okay. I would have been a burden for you if you had taken me in, so it must be better this way."

Negi smiled down to the now lucent boy.

"It's neither better nor worse this way. It just has to be like this."

Index smiled, but a single tear streamed down his face.

"I know… but…I wish I… could have… thanked that girl…"

Index's eyes shut and his breathing became very shallow.

"After all… that's all… I could have… done…"

With that the boy stopped talking.

Negi doused the cigarette in an ashtray with a sigh.

The boy was still barely clinging to life, so if Kamijou had really called the ambulance, there might still be a chance to save him. But given the supposed situation, Kamijou wouldn't have called to insure that nothing interfered with the ritual.

To summarize, this boy was doomed to die.

Kamijou pulled out another cigarette from his pocket and lit his lighter.

"Well it's none of my-"

Suddenly, the little flame that came off of Negi's lighter went out.

To any normal person this would have just been some idiotic misfire of their lighter, and would have just shaken it before lighting it again.

However, Negi suddenly froze.

Looking down cautiously at the table, Negi saw a book.

It was a fair sized book with a worn stylized cover. If one looked closely they would see that instead of lying on the surface of the table, it floated silently.

Negi grimaced slightly as he saw it, though mostly out of fear than hatred.

"What could you possibly want?"

The book opened up and began to flip through its pages before ending up on a blank one. Once there ink lines began to form in to a picture of a woman with shoulder length dark hair and a beautiful smile. There was neat writing below the picture that read:

_**You want to save him, don't you?**_

Negi gritted his teeth and tried his best to not look at the picture.

"I… I… I want to save people… but if I try to save everyone… I will save no one…"

The writhing disappeared, only to be replace with different writing.

_**Even so, you cannot help but to want to save everyone.**_

Negi clenched his fist tight and a solitary tear ran down his face.

"But I can't… and I don't… I don't… want to lose…"

Again the writing disappeared, and new writing took it's place.

_**Even if you can't save everyone Negi, saving one person might make all the difference.**_

Negi's fist loosened and he unclenched his teeth. He started at the picture for a few seconds more before sighing, this time in resignation.

Standing up he extended his right hand out in front of him and closed his eyes. A slight glow formed around him and the end of his hair began to float.

"_**Healing winds…Gather to my call."**_

Opening his eyes, Negi saw a Japanese style fan in his hands opened up to its full extent. It was unadorned by any design, but that did not hinder its practicality.

Looking down at the boy across the table, Negi could not help but smile.

"You know you are lucky. The first bit of magic I've performed in years and it's on you."

Negi raised the fan over his head in a dramatic pose.

"Don't waste this."

With a swing, a sudden gust of wind that felt both like a typhoon and a gentle breeze blew through the room. Every window it the room open up suddenly to allow the breeze to flow through.

As soon as the wind had come it vanished.

No blood flowed from Index's now closed back, and his breathing was deep and regular. Negi wouldn't be surprised that if a few weeks later that the boy was actually more healthy than before he had received the wound.

Looking back down at the table, there was no sign of the book that had been there. With a slightly disappointed look, Negi dismissed the fan and pulled out another cigarette.

This time when he lit the lighter, it worked normally.


	12. A Certain New Day

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

After dawn had come and gone, Index's symptoms had regressed to those of a small cold.

While he was still unconscious with a high fever, he thankfully was breathing regularly and color had returned to his face.

Kamijou removed the lukewarm towel that rested on his head and plunged it into the batch of cold water next to her. She had not left Index's side all night, daring not to even sleep in fear that, somehow, her going asleep would cause Index to die.

Ringing out the now cooled towel, Kamijou returned it to Index's forehead. She had already taken the boy's temperature a few seconds ago, so now she had nothing to do but sit and wait to do something else.

"Really now Kamijou-san, go get some sleep. You're making me sleepy and I just got up."

Kamijou sighed as she shot a glance over to the slovenly example of a teacher that was Negi Springfield.

While he did have a shirt on, which was an improvement from the entire night; he was drinking a beer early in the morning. Kamijou had looked through Negi's fridge in the middle of the night for something to eat, and was met with only beer and water. Upon closer inspection Kamijou, who was not an expert in liquor, could clearly tell it was not a brand native to Academy City. While liquor was rare in Academy City due to many of the city's population being student, it did not mean it was uncommon enough for one to have to order some from outside.

Also when she searched through his drawers for any medical supplies, she had found carton upon carton of cigarettes, again not from Academy City, and none of what she was looking for. The man also had few changes of clothes outside the suit and tie he constantly wore in class, and his "extra" futon was in such bad shape that Kamijou hand washed it before she decreed it to be in a useable state.

To sum it up, while Kamijou's teacher was a refined gentleman outside of his house and in class, inside of it he was one of the worst examples of humanity.

"Kamijou-san, he's going to be out for a while. My magic is good, but it won't undo the natural healing process unless I have the necessary components, which I didn't last night."

… And then there was that.

When Kamijou had come back to the house, expecting anything from finding both Negi and Index dead to some sort of Lovecraftian horror unleashed upon the world, and instead found a breathing Index and a Negi half way through his third beer of the night.

He had told Kamijou while he was lucent that he was a magician, and then passed out when she had attempted to question him more. Kamijou wanted to believe that Negi had collapsed due to the dangerous process of using magic, but the presence of the beer did little to fix her impression of him.

Sighing, Kamijou rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Really Springfield-sensei, I-"

"Kamijou-san, you spent the night here so you can call me Negi if you want. We've at least grown closer after what happened last night."

"Please don't say something that could be misunderstood!"

Kamijou felt tears well up in her eyes at the fact that the strict yet kind teacher she had come to like was this much of an idiot in his own home.

"What human can live like this anyway!? At least have some food in the fridge for god's sake!"

"But I'm not that great of a cook Kamijou-san; why would I need to buy food if I'm just going to ruin it?"

Kamijou seriously wanted to punch the man sitting there smiling with a beer in hand. While his argument was indeed logical and thus debatable, Kamijou still despised the insanity that it clearly displayed. Of course no matter how bad a cook a person was, that was no reason not to have at least some sort of microwaveable food.

"Could you please just go and buy something for me and Index to eat? I'll cook it, so all you have to do is buy it."

"Why should I buy anything? I'm letting you stay here free of charge right now, so you should be more gracious with your demands."

"…"

Kamijou was silent for a moment, and then sighed.

She then walked over and grabbed Negi by his hair.

"Wha-! Kamijou-san what are you-"

Kamijou remained silent as she dragged her teacher through his house and opened the door.

She then promptly tossed him out.

"Now listen here Negi."

Negi began to rub the back of his head where Kamijou had grabbed and looked up, and saw a menacingly smiling Kamijou.

"If you could please, go and buy something we can eat. If you refuse…"

Kamijou put on an even sicklier sweet smile.

"I'll make your life a living hell."

Kamijou promptly shut the door.

She did not want to even deal with what her teacher had told her last night, and instead chose to simply ignore it. She hopefully thought that she would not need to deal with it until much later, but something in her stomach told her that things would not turn out that way.

Sighing to herself, she went back into the room, where she found an Index whose eyes were open.

"Index!"

The boy still had a fevered complexion, and his eyes were rather blurry, but there was no doubt he was awake.

Index's eyes slowly settled over Kamijou, and he had a confused look on his face.

"So…I'm…alive…after all…"

Kamijou desperately contained the desire to run over and wrap her arms around the recovering boy, and instead chose to sit down next to the boy.

"Of course you're alive idiot. What else would you be?"

Index looked around the room, as if searching for something.

"But…I had thought…"

Kamijou reached up and pulled off the lukewarm towel from Index's forehead and began to ring it out.

"Calm down. Negi went and performed the ritual on you and said you should be fine in a few days."

"Ah… that man… I see…"

Kamijou looked down at Index who was smiling sadly.

"Is something the matter?"

"No, no… it's fine...Where is…that man now?"

Kamijou pointed behind her at the door.

"He has no food in his house so I "suggested" that he go out and get some. He'll be gone for a while hopefully."

Index gave a weak laugh which was followed by small cough.

"I see… then we don't have to worry…about him for a while…"

Kamijou stopped ringing out the towel as Index said this. Gritting her teeth she asked the question that was on her mind.

"Is he… will he be a problem?"

Index looked up at her with a questioning gaze.

"What… are you talking about?"

"He said he was a magician so…I thought…"

As Kamijou's voice trailed off, Index looked up at her with a smile.

"If he hasn't done anything yet … then I doubt he'll be a problem… If he wanted my grimories… he would not have allowed you near me…"

Kamijou scratched her head and attempted a chuckle.

"I-I see. I still don't know much about what's going on so…"

"Do you want to know?"

Index's voice was very quiet. His first truly complete sentence belayed a sense of determination and knowledge.

Kamijou clenched her fist as she looked down at the boy. It bothered her that she knew so little about the boy, about what he had been through or what he could do. However she could would have to deal with it if he did not want to talk about it.

"Do you want to know what my circumstances are?"

Kamijou sighed as she put the now chilled towel back on Index's head with a smile.

"You really know how to sound like a priest when you want to."

Index smiled up at her before he looked up at the ceiling.

"Magic was never something one could easily define as being one thing or another, besides something that allows one to exceed their powerlessness with the help of otherworldly forces. There are also many organizations that use magic; within the Christian church alone there are the Catholics, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodox, Anglicans, and many more. So many people use this force yet one cannot identify all of them as the same type of person. Can you guess why this is?"

"Well… Wouldn't it simply be because of people are different?"

Index smiled up at Kamijou.

"Exactly. Magic was developed in many different parts of the world, and with each new style that arose, new sects and groups arose with it. These groups fought, either with each other or with other sects with different styles. So now, even though we all use magic, the magic side has many different sides to it."

Index took a deep breath before continuing.

"Since magic is available the world over, it was natural for these many different sects to be isolated from each other's development, which led to the development of unique characteristics for each one. For Christians, The Roman Catholic Church manages the world since it was the church of the Roman Empire, while the Russian Orthodox is in charge of hunting down the occult on orders from the old Soviet Union. While the Anglican Church…"

Index looked up at the ceiling with an air of sadness.

"England is and always has been a country of magic. Because of this, the Anglican Church, otherwise known as the Church of England, is especially proficient in dealing with them. Necessarius, a special branch of the Anglican Church, has a saying. To defend against one's enemy, one must understand them. But to understand an impure enemy makes you impure, and to strike an impure enemy is to make yourself impure. So to fight our enemies, we must allow necessary evil."

Index smiled sadly, like he almost regretted what he said.

"That is the mindset of Necessarius, the church of necessary evils. It was created to draw all of the impurities needed to fight magic into one place. The most extreme case of this is…"

"You're 103,000 grimoires, right?"

Index nodded.

"Magic is like an equation. If you can reverse the calculations needed to pull of the spell, you can negate your opponent's attack with ease. That is why I have memorized the 103,000 grimoires. If you know every magic style in the world, then you can neutralize any magic."

Kamijou silently clenched her left hand.

She had always thought that her left hand was of no use at all. it would not let her defeat even a single delinquent who constantly chased her, nor would it raise her abysmal scores on tests, and of course it would not make her earn the respect of her underclassmen, so she had mainly just ignored it and thought of it as useless.

But, Index must have gone through hell just to achieve the same thing.

"So basically, what you are saying is that magicians want to get their hands on the powers in your head. They want the power of all the magic in the world."

Index smiled up at Kamijou.

"I don't know about all the magic in the world, but with the 103,000 grimoires, one would be able to twist the rules of the world to their will. That is what the magic side calls a Magic God."

Without realizing, Kamijou had begun to grit her back teeth. The word 'impure' somehow stuck in Kamijou's mind and it made her despise the word magician. It was clear from Index's actions that he wanted to keep the victims of magic as low as possible, yet to do that he was forced to be treated like an item and not a human being. It just infuriated her to no end.

"I'm sorry…"

Kamijou had no clue what it was, but that one word made her truly snap.

"What in the world do you mean by that?!"

Index avoided making direct eye contact as Kamijou stared at him with her canines bared.

"It's just… It's my fault that you are involved all of this now…Because I was too weak to save myself…So… I just…I just…"

"Didn't want me to hate you?"

Index rolled on his side away from Kamijou, as if to run away from Kamijou's glare. Annoyed, Kamijou grabbed the towel from Index's forehead and dunked it in the vat of water.

"If you're looking for forgiveness don't expect to find it here."

She saw Index's body shudder but did not hear anything out of him. He must have been holding it in so as not to embarrass himself in front of her.

"Anyway you haven't done anything I can really forgive you for."

Index turned over and looked at Kamijou's smiling face in surprise.

"I'm not going to hate you abandon you simply because you asked for help Index. That's just not how I work. I'll stay by your side and help you no matter what with a smile, and nothing, not even a magic god can change that."

Kamijou said this without even a hint of embarrassment in her voice. She had only said what was on her mind, but she knew that she had meant every word of it.

Index was silent for a moment, but then in a flash he leaned up and wrapped his arms around Kamijou.

"Wha-!"

Taken by surprise, Kamijou lost her balance and fell down next to Index on the futon.

"Thank you… Thank you…"

As Kamijou looked down at the boy, she could see tears flowing down his face. With a sigh she began to rub the top of his head with a smile.

"It's okay Index. Now can you please let me up?"

Index was silent.

"Index?"

"…Thank you…"

Looking down again, Kamijou saw that the boy was asleep. When she tried to move out of his grip, she found it was like a vice.

"Umm… Index could you please wake up?"

Still the boy remained silent and hung on to Kamijou for dear life.

Kamijou simply sighed and gave up. Crawling under the blanket with Index she slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Don't think of this as a regular thing now."

* * *

About 600 meters away on top of a multi-tenant building, Styx took her binoculars away from down from her eyes.

"I've looked into that girl Index is with. …How is he?"

"He's alive thankfully, but that must mean they have a magic user on their side."

Styx made the reply without even turning to face the man behind her.

The man gave no response, but it was clear that he was more relieved that no one had died than worried about a new enemy.

He was around 18, and he was about a head taller than Styx.

And since Styx was a foreigner, so that man was tall when compared to the average Japanese height.

His shoulder length black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and at he had a 2m long katana at his waist. It was the type known as a "command sword" which was commonly used in Shinto rain calling ceremonies.

The man wore a pair of used jeans and a too large white shirt, as well as a pair of sturdy leather boots. The katana and it's sheath lay in a leather holster like a pistol.

He looked like a sheriff from an old Western movie that had traded their pistol in for a sword.

Just like Styx, this man was hardly what you could consider normal.

With an annoyed look on her face, Styx pulled a cigarette out of her pocket.

"So who exactly is this girl, Kanzaki? Don't spare any of the details. I don't want to go into another fight without an idea about what she can do."

The man named Kanzaki sighed in a disheartened way.

"That's the thing… I was unable to get much information on the girl beside her basic personal information. At the very least, it can be determined that she's neither a magician or supernaturally powered in another way."

"…Are you trying to say that she's just a normal high school student?"

Styx rubbed the bridge of her nose as she lit the cigarette she had pulled out by staring at the tip.

"Just stop. This world isn't kind enough to let a powerless amateur drive back Innocentius's flames of judgment without some kind of power."

"True. The real issue is that someone with that much battle ability is categorized as nothing more than a hopeless student who is prone to getting into fights."

Styx took a long puff of her cigarette as she narrowed her eyes.

"Perhaps the information is being intentionally blocked by another organization. Index's wounds were magically healed after all. Kanzaki, do any of the other magical organizations in this country have any forces in this city?"

Kanzaki shook his head.

"If they're doing something in this city, the Five Elements Institution's informants said nothing about it."

Kanzaki closed his eyes.

"We have an unknown number of enemies to deal with and no chance of backup in case of the worst case scenario. This is going to be difficult."

Kanzaki opened one eye and looked at Styx.

"This could develop into a full-fledged magical battle against another group of magicians. Styx, have you fixed your runes problems with water proofing?"

Styx waved her hand dismissively.

"I've already compensated for that. I had the paper with the runes laminated."

She pulled out a small stack of the runes, which shone like a cheap deck of trading cards.

"The same trick won't work on me again. Additionally, this time I will place the barrier in a 2 kilometer area rather than just on the building. It will take 164,000 cards and the preparations will take at least 3 days to complete."

With that said the girl returned her gaze to the old looking apartment 600 meters away.

"…He looks so peaceful right now."

The magician said this with an air of depression.

"How long do we have to keep ruining it?"

Kanzaki stared 600 meters ahead of him at the same old apartment building.

Even without using binoculars or magic, he could see what was going on clearly with his 8.0 vision. Through the window, he could see the boy and girl lying peacefully in the futon, sleeping the day away.

"It must be a complicated feeling for you. You were in the same position not that long ago."

Kanzaki said this like a machine.

"…I'm used to it now."

The flame magician need not say anymore.


	13. A Certain New Enemy

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Bathtime. Bathtime. Bathtime."

Kamijou sung as she walked down the street, wash basin in hand. Index walked beside her in silence, frowning slightly in displeasure.

After three full days of bed rest, Index was finally well enough to get up and walk around, and Kamijou's first major demand was to go take a bath.

Since Negi's apartment lacked anything resembling a bath, the two of them had been forced to too use a nearby public bath.

"Touka. Touka."

Kamijou sighed in exasperation.

That morning, Kamijou had realized that she had yet to introduced herself to Index properly, and since then Index had found a chance to use her name at every opportunity he could.

"…What is it Index?"

Index's face clearly showed his reservation's in taking a bath.

"Do we really have to do this now? Negi told me about times when he was attacked by strange women in the baths. What if that happens to me?"

Kamijou pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance at her apparently idiot teacher. She should have been a bit worried when Negi offered to explain the public bath system to Index. She should have simply left that apartment days ago, but she had nowhere to go since she was certain that her apartment was under surveillance from the enemy. Negi had done nothing overly suspicious to the best of Kamijou's knowledge, so it seemed to be fine for now.

"You don't need to worry about that Index. I doubt that man knows what bath is, and I doubt any woman would try to 'attack' him in one. But now that I think about it, a giant bath might be a bit shocking for you anyway. In England, those cramped baths that are in hotels are more common, right?"

Index stopped walking for a second, but then continued to follow Kamijou's pace.

"…I don't really know about that. The first thing real thing I remember is being here in Japan. I don't really know how things are like back in England."

"So that's why you speak Japanese so fluently. If you were here since you were little, then you're practically Japanese yourself."

"No, no. That isn't what I meant."

Index looked up at Kamijou with eyes that held no falseness.

"Apparently, I was born and raised in London's St. George's Cathedral. I only came here about a year ago."

Kamijou stopped in her tracks.

"Wait… does that mean…?"

"Yeah. I have no memories from before about a year ago when I arrived."

Index nodded as he spoke in an even tone without any undo emotion.

"I first woke up in a back alley of some city, and I had no idea who I was. All I knew was that I had to run away from something. I couldn't even remember what I ate for dinner the night before, but knowledge of things like magic, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and Necessarius were swirling around in my mind like it was normal. It was a bit of a shock at first…"

Index scratched his cheek in somewhat embarrassment. Kamijou, all the while, desperately tried to contain the shuddering her body was doing.

"Then you… you're saying that you don't even know why you lost your memories?"

Index casually nodded.

"That's right."

Kamijou knew next to nothing about psychology, but she knew from video games and dramas on T.V. that there were two major causes of amnesia.

Receiving major damage to the body or being forced to forget a memory that your heart simply could not bear.

"God damn it…"

Kamijou felt angry for some reason.

She now knew why Index had grown so oddly attached to her. It was simply that Kamijou was the first person he had gotten to know after spending a year alone and being chased by magicians.

Something about this displeased Kamijou.

She had no idea why, but it just angered her.

"Touka… are you angry?"

Kamijou swallowed dryly and forced herself to calm down.

"No, I'm not angry Index."

Index tilted his head in confusion, and hit his fist in the palm of his hand.

"Ahhh… Is it that time of the month for you?"

Kamijou could only gawk stupidly at that question. Index, in the meanwhile, began to nod to himself like he had said something right.

"Your strange behavior right now might be an effect of 'that.' I have heard that most women turn into monsters when that 'happens'."

Kamijou began to panic and tried to change the subject to something else. She doubted her fragile maiden heart could take much more of this discussion.

"That's not the case at all. I was just thinking on how scared you will be when we get to the bath. You'd probably freak if it was a mixed bath."

Index tilted his head to the side in confusnion.

"Mixed bath? What is that?"

"It's a bath where both men and women bathe together."

In an instant, Kamijou knew she had messed up big time. Academy City would not have mixed baths because all the students living in it, but to Index, who knew nothing, he might think that there were many of them.

True to her idea of him, Index dropped his wash basin and began to shudder uncontrollably in fear.

"No…No…"

Index turned around and began to run off in a random direction.

"I don't want to be molested!"

"…"

Kamijou could only stand there for a few seconds, dumbfounded, before realizing the danger that the two of them were still in.

"God damn it… What kind of misfortune is this?!"

Kamijou ran after Index, and out onto the main street,looking all around for a sign of the boy clad in white priest robes, but to no avail.

"Doesn't that idiot know that he's still in danger until he gets to a church?"

Kamijou felt a sharp pain strike her heart as she said this.

That was how this entire thing was going to end. Index would be safely delivered to an Anglican Church and then be taken back to London. Index would be protected from magicians and Kamijou would remain in Academy City.

They would return to their own worlds and probably never see each other again.

It was the best resolution, but it seemed to bother Kamijou that it was.

"…It's very quiet out tonight, more to the point."

Something was not right to Kamijou.

Looking up, Kamijou checked the time displayed on a department store's electronic billboard and found it was exactly 8 PM. It would still be a while before most students would go to sleep since it summer vacation. Yet a horrible silence had fallen over the district which was supposed to have establishments open into the late night. It was as if a strange, out-of-place aura hung over the area.

"Come to think of it I haven't seen anyone since I left Negi's house. I wonder why that is?"

"It's simple really. Styx carved an Opila rune for a people clearing field."

Kamijou clenched her left hand into a fist.

She had guessed that the unnatural feel that the area had was caused by a magician. But she had not sensed the magician that now blocked her path.

It went beyond not seeing or noticing him due to the night. An instant before there was no one there, and in the time it took to blink, the man had appeared.

"All of the people who were around this area have had their focuses averted so that they avoid approaching here for whatever reason. Most are likely inside the buildings, so worry not. We will not use them as hostages."

That voice made Kamijou's body react before her mind could adjust to the situation. With rope-like pain tightly binding her left wrist, Kamijou instinctually sensed that the man in front of her was dangerous.

He wore a loose T-shirt and jeans that made him look like a slacker college student. But the two meter long katana hanging from his waist emanated a freezing bloodlust. He showed no signs of nervousness, and in all honesty, spoke like he was simply having a casual conversation.

"My name… is Kanzaki Kaoro. …If you don't mind, I would rather prefer to not give my other name, if possible."

"Could you perhaps mean your magic name?"

"…Yes."

Kamijou bared her teeth at the man standing a few meters away as she felt all the blood in her body boil.

"So you're from the same magic cabal as that red haired bitch, or are you someone else here to chase Index?"

Kanzaki sighed and shut his eyes to Kamijou.

"I'm guessing you heard the term magic cabal from Index so I shouldn't really be surprised."

Kanzaki opened one eye to look at Kamijou.

"To be honest, I would like to take him into our care without having to give my magic name."

Kamijou felt a chill run down her spine that she quickly shook off.

"…And if I refuse to?"

Kanzaki sighed again, and closed his eyes yet again.

"Then I will have no other choice. I would have to give my name until he has been brought into our care."

The distance between the two of them was 10 meters. Even with the two meter long katana there was no physical way for the man to draw his sword and charge at Kamijou.

However, in the next instant, the air above Kamijou's head was sliced apart. Kamijou froze in place and the blade of a wind turbine behind her was silently sliced through diagonally as if it were made of butter.

"Ignoring my warnings will only lead you to death."

With a click, Kanzaki's two meter plus sword returned to its scabbard. The strike had been so quick that Kamijou never even saw the blade exposed in the air.

It dawned on her that the only reason Kamijou was still alive was because Kanzaki had not targeted her.

With a loud thud, the sliced wind turbine blade hit the ground behind her.

Kanzaki opened one of his eyes yet again.

"I will ask you again. I would like to resolve this without having to give my magic name."

Kamijou shook the fear out of her body and grinned at the man across from her.

"…What the hell are you saying? I don't have any reason to surrender to-…"

"I will ask as many times as necessary."

In an instant Kanzaki's hand disappeared.

Kamijou watched as a typhoon sliced the asphalt, the streetlights, and the trees lining the street all around her at set intervals into pieces. A fist-sized piece of asphalt flew through the air and struck Kamijou's shoulder, which sent her flying backwards and landing on her shoulder.

Dazed, Kamijou looked down at the spot where she had been a few seconds ago.

A total of seven linear sword slices stretched across a few dozen meters on the flat ground.

Kamijou heard the click of the katana returning to its scabbard.

"I would like to resolve this without having to give my magic name."

With his right hand still on the hilt of the sword, Kanzaki spoke with no malice or anger.

There had been seven strikes, but Kamijou was unable to see even a single one. Kanzaki had performed seven iai strokes in that single instant, and any one of them could have cut Kamijou in half.

This must have been the supernatural power of magic. This man must have possessed some sort of magic that extended the range of his strikes and give him swordsmanship that allowed him to attack seven times with one draw of the sword.

Silently, Kamijou clenched her fist with enough force to crush her left hand.

This man had overwhelming speed, power, and range, and most likely, that slicing attack had something to do with magic. If she was going to have any chance at beating this man, she had to touch his attack.

"Please don't delude yourself."

The man said this like he was reading Kamijou's thoughts.

"Styx said that your left hand can dispel magic for some reason. However, am I correct in thinking that you cannot do so unless you touch the magic with that left hand of yours?"

Kamijou gritted her teeth she locked gazes with that man.

Kamijou's left hand was of no use if she could not touch the source of the supernatural power. Unlike abilities which shot in a straight line like the red haired magicians flames, or that bug zappers electricity, abilities that she could not predict were Kamijou's worst nightmare.

"I will ask as many times as it takes."

Kanzaki's right hand silently grabbed the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Kamijou felt a cold sweat run down her cheek.

If Kanzaki's mood changed and he decided to kill, Kamijou would certainly be sliced to pieces in an instant. Given how he had sliced the trees lining the road to pieces at a range of a few dozen meters, trying to run away from him or using something as a shield would be suicide.

Kamijou had only one option.

Calculating the distance between herself and Kanzaki, Kamijou found it was about 10 meters. If she ran as fast as her human body could allow her, Kamijou could cover the distance in four steps.

Kanzaki put his hand on his sword with a blank look on his face.

"Will you let us take Index into our care before I have to give my magic name?"

Kamijou took one deep, possibly last, breath, and took one step forward. One of Kanzaki's eyebrows twitched up as Kamijou grinned like a mad woman.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamijou catapulted herself forward. With no place to run, hide, or evade, that left Kamijou one option.

To charge straight forward.

"I can see what is driving you, but…"

Kanzaki gave a sigh that was more pity than anything else.

A small cloud of dust hung in the air between Kamijou and Kanzaki, made up of bits of asphalt and concrete.

In an instant, that dust cloud was cut apart.

"Damn it!"

Kamijou instantly choose to evade the strike rather than negate it with her left hand. She crouched down and the seven strikes passed right over her head.

It had not been planned, and Kamijou wouldn't have been able to so if she tried. She had just gotten lucky.

Kamijou felt herself grinning much, much wider now that she understood how her enemy worked. Even if the strange sword technique was helped by magic, it was still an iai strike at its base. An iai strike was basically a technique that involved putting all your strength behind one single sword stroke. That meant that when one swung their blade and missed, they would be open to counter attack.

If Kamijou could just reach Kanzaki, she would win. That bit of hope raised Kamijou's spirits.

Only to have them brought down by the much-too-short metallic noise of the katana being returned to its scabbard.

A roar came from directly in front of Kamijou at pointblank range. The seven strikes were upon her before she could even react.

"Dammit!"

Kamijou stuck her left fist forward toward the slicing attacks in front of her in an attempt to defend herself.

Due to the close proximity of them, the seven strikes were released simultaneously without any spreading, which meant she could blow away all seven of them with one strike of Imagine Breaker.

As the strikes glowed blue in the moonlight, the skin of Kamijou's fist lightly touched them….

…And was eaten into.

"…Huh?"

They did not disappear. Even with Imagine Breaker, those absurd strikes did not disappear at all.

"…Shit!"

Kamijou immediately tried to pull her hand back but was much too slow. After all, she had stuck her own hand into the oncoming strike of a katana.

In the next instant, the wet sound of flesh being sliced apart filled the air. Kamijou's hand exploded into a torrent of blood. The pain of it all brought Kamijou to her knees.

She was honestly surprised to find that all five of her fingers were still attached. This was of course not due to Kamijou's fingers being tough or Kanzaki's skill being poor.

Kamijou was still alive due to the simple fact that Kanzaki held back.

Kanzaki stood with the moon's perfect circle behind him. Suddenly, Kamijou could notice threads coated with blood, her blood.

"What the hell… Are you even a magician!?"

That ridiculously huge katana was nothing more than a decoration.

It was now unsurprising to Kamijou that she had unable to see the instant Kanzaki had drawn the sword. That was because he had never actually drawn it. The bastard had simply moved the sword slightly within the scabbard and moved it back. That motion was used to hide the manipulation of the seven steel wires.

"You seem to be mistaken about something."

Kanzaki said this with a blank expression on his face.

"I am not disguising a lack of ability with some sort of cheap trick. Beyond my Nanasen is the true Yuisen."

Kamijou clenched the bloody remains of her left fist.

"And more importantly, I haven't even given my magic name yet."

Kanzaki looked down at Kamijou with a look of pity, while Kamijou continued to clench her fist.

"Please do not make me give it. I don't wish to give it ever again."

Kamijou's clenched fist trembled in both fear and anger.

This man was clearly different from the red haired bitch. From the most basic of the basics to the most complex of the complexities, this man was a human who was completely differently from Kamijou.

"…Fuck that."

Even so, Kamijou did not unclench her fist, despite not having any feeling in it.

"What did you say? …I could not hear you."

"I said shut the hell up, you damn robot!"

Kamijou clenched, bloody fist swung at the face of the man before her.

Kanzaki didn't even make a move to evade. He simply grabbed Kamijou's wrist and tossed her away from him. Kamijou felt her body spin in midair before landing on the ground shoulder first.

"Nanasen."

Before Kamijou could even reorient herself, seven slicing attacks broke the asphalt around her to pieces. Her entire body was pelted by an explosion of small fragments from every direction.

Kamijou fell to the ground face first as an intense pain similar to being brutalized by five or six people assaulted her. Kanzaki approached her, each step of his boots echoing throughout the area.

_I need to get up…_

Kamijou thought this to herself, even though she could not move.

"Surely that is enough."

Kanzaki's voice was flat in tone as he walked forward.

"You have done enough for him. Lasting even 30 seconds against one of the top 10 magicians of London is quite an achievement. He couldn't hate if you quit after coming this far."

Kamijou's mind was hazy, but she could feel herself smile.

She knew that Index would indeed not blame her no matter what she did.

But that was precisely why Kamijou could go all out for him.

Kamijou continued to smile as she forced her destroyed left hand into a fist.

"If you know that, then I can ask why you are doing this?"

Kanzaki stopped in his tracks as Kamijou slowly got to her feet.

"You're not like that red haired bitch; you're hesitating to kill me, your enemy. You could have easily killed me if you wanted to. That means that you're still enough of a normal human to hesitate about killing someone."

"…"

Kanzaki had fallen silent, but Kamijou's mind was too hazy from the pain for her to notice.

"You must feel something when you chased him for so long. You must have felt something when he sliced his back open, right? He's been running around for a year without any memories because of you guys. Doesn't that make you feel something?"

Kamijou clenched her fist and felt the pain shoot up her arm.

Even then she smiled.

"Sure, I'm a loser who can't even save someone after risking my life to desperately trying to fight you. I'm a weakling who can only get up for another beating."

Kamijou's brain was still in a haze where she barely knew what the rest of her body was doing.

But still she smiled.

"Sure, with your power you could kill me with one strike if you wanted you. With your power you could defend as many people as you want."

Kamijou felt the haze in her mind disappear and the pain simply become secondary to her.

Her smile stretched across her face and made her look like a mad women.

"But there's one thing that I'm certain of. It's that I won't lose to a weakling like you who chooses to use their power to harm others for no reason!"

Kamijou stood there smiling, clenching her fist at her enemy.

"…"

Kanzaki sighed as he looked at Kamijou with a look of pity and strangely, envy.

"I really did not mean to hurt him like I did. If I could take it back I would."

Kanzaki looked up into the night sky, a look of incurable sadness on his face.

"I am not doing this because I want to, but it's something I can't avoid doing. If I do, he will die."

Kanzaki looked at Kamijou with that same sad expression.

"I belong to is the same group as he does. I am from Necessarius of the Anglican Church. Index is my colleague… and was once my precious friend."


	14. A Certain Revalation

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Wha-…What are you saying?"

Kamijou could not understand. No, it was more like she did not want to understand what was being said.

Kamijou stood there, cut up and bloody, looking at Kanzaki like he had lost his mind.

She wanted to think that she had just imagined what she had heard because she was dazed. After all, it made absolutely no sense. Index had been trying to escape to the Anglican Church while being chased by magicians from another organization. How could those same magicians be from the very Anglican Church Index was fleeing to?

"Have you ever heard of a perfect memory?"

Kanzaki spoke with a tired tone. At that moment, it was hard to believe this man was one of the 10 strongest magicians of London. He looked more like a part time worker who had just gotten back from working several jobs.

"That's the true identity of his 103,000 grimoires, right?"

Kamijou spoke even though she did not know what was going on.

"They're all in his head because he can remember every single thing he sees. I still find it hard to believe, though. I mean, he's an idiot who doesn't even know how public baths work. He just doesn't look like that kind of genius."

Kanzaki looked at Kamijou with a solemn expression.

"…What does he look like to you, then?"

"He looks just like a normal boy."

Kanzaki sighed, and then, surprisingly, smiled at Kamijou.

"I guess he does look like that, doesn't he?"

But as soon as it had appeared, Kanzaki's smile disappeared.

"But I must ask you, do you think that he could have evaded our pursuit for an entire year if he were 'just a normal boy?'"

"…"

"He's up against magicians like me and Styx, but he doesn't have a supernatural power like you or magic like me. He can only run away."

That was true. Kamijou could barely handle the past four days, even with her Imagine Breaker. Yet Index had been doing this for the past year.

"He is, without a doubt, a genius."

Kanzaki declared this like it was an undeniable fact.

"He is a genius, to such an extent that using his abilities in the wrong way could cause a disaster of such magnitude unseen by the world in this millennium. Because of this, the higher ups in the church do not treat him like a human, but rather a tool to be used. He is one of the most coveted and feared 'weapons' in the world of magic."

Kamijou grit her teeth. The way that man talked… The way he spoke of Index like he was nothing more than an item…

"That may be, but Index is still human. He's not some sort of tool. I can't… I just can't see him like that…!"

Kanzaki sighed as he closed both of his eyes.

"I can understand that, however his current situation does not allow for him to be treated like normal people like us."

"…So what?"

Kamijou looked Kanzaki with a look full of pure venom.

"You're part of the same church as Index, right? Necessarius? If you are, why are you chasing her around? Why was Index saying you were evil magicians from a magic cabal?"

Kamijou silently gritted her back teeth in anger.

"Or are you trying to say Index was the one lying to me?"

Kamijou would not believe that.

If Index had simply been trying to use Kamijou, he would have no reason to risk his life to save her. Even without that sort of logical reasoning, Kamijou simply did not want to believe it.

"He was not lying."

Kanzaki replied without a moment's hesitation.

"He remembers nothing. Neither I and Styx's Necessarius affiliation nor the reason for us chasing him. Because he does not remember, he has to use his own knowledge to fill in the gaps. It is only natural to assume magicians chasing the Index Librorum Prohibitorum are from a magic cabal after the 103,000 grimoires."

Kamijou suddenly recalled something. Index had said that he had lost his memories about a year ago.

"Wait a second. That doesn't make sense. If Index is supposed to have a perfect memory, how could he forget? What made him lose his memories?"

Kanzaki sighed in a defeated manner.

"He did not lose them. Technically, I erased them."

Kamijou did not even need to ask how.

_Please do not make me give my magic name._ _I do not want to give it ever again._

"…Why?"

Kamijou asked this through her gritted teeth.

"Why would you do that!? I thought you said you were Index's comrade! So why!?"

"…We had to do it."

Kanzaki spoke with that same flat even tone that infuriated Kamijou to no end.

"Otherwise, Index would have died."

Kamijou's breathing stopped. For no discernible reason to her, the heat of the midsummer night she had felt on her skin departed. All five of her senses felt like they were trying to escape reality.

"85 percent of Index's brain is taken up by the knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires. He only has the remaining 15 percent for normal, everyday use. If he amasses memories like a normal person, his brain would quickly burst."

Kanzaki's voice took at least 20 seconds to reach Kamijou's scattered brain.

"That's…impossible…"

Rather than use any form of logic or reason, Kamijou simply denied it.

"I mean… I mean… how could that even be?"

"It's because he is different from us in one way. He has a perfect memory."

All the feeling slowly left Kamijou's body.

"Think back to what a perfect memory really is."

"…It's the ability to never forget anything you see even once."

Kamijou spoke with a defeated tone as she looked down at the ground.

"And is the ability to forget really all that bad a thing?"

"…"

Kanzaki continued to speak, not even caring that Kamijou had remained quiet.

"Did you know that the specifications of the human brain are surprisingly limited? The only reason a human brain can continue to function for 100 years is because unneeded memories are disposed of through the process of forgetting. Everyone's brain undergoes this maintenance without even realizing it. If they did not, people would be unable to live like we do now."

"…"

Every word bore into Kamijou's mind like a drill. With every sentence, it felt like Kamijou's heart would burst open.

"But, Index cannot do this. He can't forget anything: be it the number of leaves on a tree, to the faces of every person passing him during a rush hour, to the shape of each and every raindrop falling from the sky. All of those pointless, garbage memories fill up his mind in no time and kill him. So, since he cannot forget on his own, the only way to for him to live is to get someone else to force him to forget."

"…How long?"

Inquiring instead of denying it, Kamijou seemingly accepted somewhere deep down that it was the truth.

"How long until his brain bursts?"

Kanzaki sighed and closed both of his eyes.

"His memories are to be erased at precise one year intervals. That deadline is three days from now. It cannot be done too soon or too late. If it is not done at that exact time, his memories cannot be erased."

Kamijou felt a pain in her heart, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Now do you understand?"

Kanzaki still spoke in a flat tone.

"We wish him no harm, and there is no way for you to truly save him without us. So, will you agree to hand him over before I have to give my magic name?"

"…No."

Kamijou said that one word, and inside of her, the slowly building rage exploded outward.

"To hell with that! Something's off here. If Index had only forgotten, then couldn't you have just gotten rid of the misunderstandings by explaining it all to him? Why would you leave it at the status quo? Why would you chase him around like you were his enemy!? And why in the hell would you just decide to abandon him!? Do you have any idea how he must fee-…"

"You know if I were you, I wouldn't act like you know everything."

Kamijou's anger was instantly crushed by Kanzaki's cold whisper.

"Don't act like you understand what's going on. Do you think we've enjoyed erasing his feelings all this time? You couldn't possibly understand how we've felt."

Kanzaki glared at Kamijou with such thinly veiled hatred, that Kamijou shivered in fear.

"You speak of Styx like she was some kind of sadistic murderer, but do you know how she felt seeing Index with you? Do you know how she has suffered? Do you know how hard it is for her to present herself as his enemy?"

Kamijou's knees gave out from under her.

Kamijou was afraid.

She was not afraid of the power of magic or the raw physical strength of this man. It was the base human emotions that were being given off.

"We tried, you know? We tried everything we could possibly think of. We promised to make such splendid memories that he would never forget them. We filled many journals and photo albums with memories to share with him next year."

Kanzaki spoke like he was spitting up blood.

"…But nothing worked."

Kamijou could hear the sound of him grinding his teeth.

"Even though we showed him the journals and the photo albums, he just apologized to us. No matter what we did and no matter how many times we tried, even if we remade the memories from scratch, he still apologized. Everything we had done, every moment we shared with him, returned to zero."

Kanzaki gripped his sword so tightly that Kamijou could hear it.

"We… couldn't stand it any longer. We could not bear to be near him."

"…"

Somehow, Kamijou could understand the two magician's feelings.

They were expert magicians, people who regularly made the impossible possible. The entire time Index repeatedly lost his memories, they searched for a way to save him.

Yet they never succeeded.

And, to add insult to injury, they were forced to relive their failure every time they met Index for the 'first time.' After so many times, the two just gave up.

But that was something that Kamijou could not accept.

"To hell with that bullshit!"

Kamijou grit her teeth as she stood up one more time.

"That fucked up reasoning only takes you two into account. You didn't even give a single thought about Index! He's been running from you for the past year when you could simply stand by his side. Do you really think that's the best option!?"

"Then what are we supposed to do!?"

Kanzaki moved faster than Kamijou's eyes could track. One moment he was 10 meters away from Kamijou, the next he was swinging the scabbarded blade down on her in a blind rage.

However, Kamijou was no longer scared. Not of magic, nor of this man's strength, nor even of his emotion. She simply did not have any reason to.

Kamijou reached up with her left hand and grabbed the scabbarded blade as it swung down.

"If you had just been a little bit stronger…"

Kamijou smiled at Kanzaki. It wasn't a mocking or determined grin, but a smile full of pity.

"If you had only been able to set aside your feelings and stand by his side… Then you could have made it a pleasant experience for him to lose his memories. If only you hadn't given up… then one day, you might have found a way to save him…"

Suddenly Kamijou felt sleepy. The blood loss from the various wounds on her body must now be setting in. Yet she still stood without any sign of falling.

Reaching up with her right arm, she pushed the blade and Kanzaki away.

"You aren't seriously thinking of fighting in that state?"

Kanzaki had calmed down significantly, and now he was just confused.

Kamijou smiled as she looked down at herself. There were cuts going up and down her arms, and she was covered in dust from the street. All in all, she looked horrible.

But still she smiled.

"…Yeah I guess I am."

Kanzaki raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What can you possibly gain by fighting? Even if you could defeat me, all of Necessarius waits behind me, and trust me when I say, there are those much stronger than me."

That was likely true.

If they were truly Index's former friends, then they would have opposed the church's way of treating him like a tool. The fact that they did not meant that there was a clear gap of power preventing it.

"You might be right… But that doesn't matter…"

Kamijou looked and Kanzaki and grinned.

It was not a grin filled with murderous intent or sadistic pleasure, but it still made one of the top 10 magicians in London step back.

"Does one resign themselves to protecting someone just because they happen to have strength to do so?"

Kamijou took one step forward, one single step, but it still caused Kanzaki to grip the hilt of his blade in fear.

"They don't, right? You work to gain power because there's something you want to protect."

Kamijou took another step, one single step, but it still caused a shiver of panic to run through the man's body.

"Why did you acquire your power?"

Kamijou took another step, and finally Kanzaki spoke up.

"St-Stay back!"

"Who did you want to protect!?"

Kamijou took another step and that put her close enough to reach out and punch Kanzaki.

"Why the hell are you standing there!?"

Kamijou instantly felt the seven steel wires cut into her all at once. Kamijou felt them slice open her body, spilling her blood out all around. Strangely, Kamijou could barely feel the pain that should be incapacitating her right now.

Smiling, Kamijou balled her left hand into a fist.

"If you don't have an answer, then figure it out!"

Kamijou's fist collided with the Kanzaki's chin. The force of the impact launched the man into the air, but Kamijou did not see him land.

She slipped over the brink and into unconsciousness.


	15. A Certain Approaching End

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"…Touka?"

As Kamijou slowly became lucent again, she realized that Index was hovering over her with a concerned look over his face.

She was lying down on a futon in Negi's apartment, as sunlight streamed down on her face.

It must have been the morning after she had fought Kanzaki, because Kamijou had no memory of getting here.

Negi was nowhere to be seen and was probably out somewhere doing something. The only thing that gave a sign to him having been there was a few cans of beer that were sitting on the table.

Kamijou sighed and smiled up at the still concerned looking Index.

"Since the suns up already, I must have been out all night. What time is it?"

She tried to keep her tone as casual as possible, but somehow that made Index look even more concerned.

"You weren't out for just all night. It's been three days."

Index's voice somewhat caught in his throat as he spoke.

To Kamijou, it was like that voice took forever to reach her.

"Three days… Wait, what!? I was asleep for that long!?"

Index looked away from Kamijou and grimaced.

"It's all my fault. I was so focused on escaping that magician from before that I had forgotten that there were two of them. When Negi had said that he had found you collapsed and on the verge of death…I…I…"

Index looked down at Kamijou with such a look of sadness, it felt like her soul was being ripped asunder.

"…I couldn't protect you, Touka. I'm sorry."

Kamijou clenched her fist when she realized that she could offer no words of consolation to this boy.

Instead, she realized something that sent a sensation of bugs swarming across her body.

Three days.

Today was the end of the year time limit.

"Touka? Is something wrong?"

Index looked at Kamijou with a fearful gaze.

If Index still knew who Kamijou was, then the magicians had yet to come and erase his memories.

Kamijou felt relieved about that but she also wanted to kill herself for wasting the three final days she had with him. However, Kamijou hid all of this away to prevent Index from knowing.

"…Well I can't move for starters. And why am I completely wrapped in bandages like a mummy?"

Kamijou then saw something that was wrong with the picture.

"And why the hell am I naked!?"

Kamijou was under a blanket, thankfully, but other than bandages helping preserve her modesty, she was without any sort of clothes.

Index's face lit up and he looked away in embarrassment.

"W-W-Well you see Touka… when Negi found you, your clothes were basically rags. They were keeping me and Negi from examining your wounds so… we took them off."

Kamijou face palmed and briefly thought about smothering herself with a pillow.

Both the boy embarrassingly hovering over her and her homeroom teacher had seen her pretty much naked. The very thought of that made her want to kill herself from just pure shame.

Kamijou briefly harbored that feeling for a few seconds, and then sighed, letting it go.

"I guess I should be glad I'm alive at least. I guess being seen naked isn't the worst possible thing that could have happened to me."

"Y-Y-Yeah! You're absolutely right!"

"…"

"…"

"Index…"

Index practically jumped when Kamijou spoke in a menacing tone.

"Y-Yes Touka?"

"What else happened to me?"

Index shivered in fear.

"W-w-well you see… you're wounds were very severe and you would have died from blood loss. So… Negi had this special medicinal paste to help speed up the recovery of wounds…"

Kamijou did not want to hear more than that. She took the pillow her head was laying on and put it over her face.

Index began to wave his arms frantically and grabbed Kamijous arms.

* * *

"Does it still hurt?"

"If I was still hurting I would still be on the ground in pain."

After Kamijou had gotten over her own embarrassment, she had gotten up and attempted to give direction to Index's cooking so that the two of them could eat.

Negi had thankfully left Kamijou some clothes for her to wear, a plain white t-shirt and a long blue skirt, but something scared Kamijou about how well they fit her.

Her body was still not at 100 percent, but her stomach's rampart grumbling reminded her that she had probably not eaten in the past 3 days.

Index, in the meanwhile, was unconvinced about Kamijou's wounds being fully healed and continued to look at her with concern.

"It seems that the bandages and that medicine made you better, but… scientific solutions are extremely inconvenient. Magic would have fixed you up right away."

Kamijou looked down at her bandaged left hand and sighed.

"As much as I would like to agree with you, I think I'll be fine without using your magic."

Kamijou recalled the cold, emotionless face Index had made 6 days ago.

"If at all possible, I don't want to hear you explain magic ever again."

Index tilted his head in confusion.

"Touka, do you dislike explanations that much?"

Kamijou was generally surprised at that response.

"Huh…? Do you not remember that at all? You were explaining runes to me when I was fighting that red haired girl. To be honest, that scared me more than the person trying to kill me."

Kamijou attempted to laugh her way out of the oncoming awkwardness, but failed miserably.

It was like a shadow suddenly came over Index as he looked away.

"I see. I must have awakened again."

Kamijou's grin froze in place.

"Awakened? Has this happened before?"

The way Index had stated it made it seemed as if that inhuman form was his true self.

"Yeah once or twice, but please don't say too much about it."

Kamijou shivered as the boy gave a sad smile.

"Speaking when you aren't conscious is a bit embarrassing. It seems like when I awaken, I become like a cold machine."

"…I'm sorry."

Index began to panic a bit in embarrassment.

"I-It's fine, really! It's just another strange quirk of mine. A-are you hungry at all?"

Kamijou looked down at the food the two of them had managed to produce. They had a standard line up of food for a person who was sick, from the standard junk food to porridge.

However there was one glaring problem with Kamijou eating anything.

"How in the world am I supposed to eat with my hand-…"

Kamijou's thought trailed off when she realized that Index was holding chopsticks in his fist.

"…Um, Index? What are you doing?"

Index looked at Kamijou like she was crazy.

"Well, your hand is injured, so I thought I should feed you since it's pretty much my fault."

Kamijou suddenly lit up in embarrassment at the thought of Index feeding her.

"…W-wait a moment. I think I can feed myself just fine. I don't really need…-"

"Why? You're hungry aren't you?"

Index moved a bit closer to Kamijou and began trying to scoop up some of the porridge from the bowl and failing miserably.

Kamijou felt her face get even redder and struggled to get away from Index, only to be stopped by the pain searing in pretty much every part of her body.

"…Okay, Okay. I know you're trying to help, but could you just calm down and think for a second."

"?"

Index fell silent for a second.

"Think about what Touka?"

"…"

Try as she might, Kamijou found she was unable to not attach the term "innocent" to it.

Index became a bit flustered as Kamijou just stared at him.

"W-w-what is it? Did I spill something on myself?"

Kamijou sighed in resignation.

"First off, could you just go and get a spoon?"

Index looked at the chopsticks in his hands and suddenly realized his stupidity. In a flash, he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a spoon before returning to Kamijou.

Index scooped up the contents of the bowl and held it out for Kamijou to eat. Kamijou looked at the porridge and then sighed before eating the offered food with a slight blush.

"You know, I was thinking about how you look from here in this futon."

Index looked down at himself in confusion.

"Do I look weird? I know my robe is messed up, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"Oh, it's nothing really. But I just noticed that your nose hairs are silver too, is all."

Index's hand flew up to hide his nose in embarrassment as Kamijou chuckled to herself.

A sudden knock on the door surprised both Kamijou and Index.

"Is that Negi? He said he was going to be gone for a while."

Kamijou clenched her fist as a wicked grin crossed her face.

"I hope it is. I have a few… words I'd like to share with him."

Index grinned in fear.

"Touka you know that you look very scary when you smile like that."

Kamijou ignored Index's comment and slowly got up and walked to the door.

As the door swung open, Kamijou's stomach jumped in surprise.

Standing in front of her were two familiar magicians, a red haired foreign girl smoking a cigarette, and a scruffy looking man with a shoulder length ponytail.

"Well it seems you have healed up nicely."

Kamijou frowned in suspicion at the two magicians.

Naturally, Kamijou assumed that the two of them were there to retrieve Index and erase his memories to save him. However, they could have retrieved him at any time during the prior three days when Kamijou had been unconscious.

So why did they wait until now to come?

Kamijous muscles tensed up in pain as she recalled her previous fights with these two, but she could no longer see them as real enemies. Just as she was concerned about Index, these two were as well.

They were the only way to save Index from his oncoming demise, as much as Kamijou disliked that.

"What are you doing here?"

In front of her both the red haired magician and the swordsman both flinched.

From behind her, Kamijou could hear Index's voice, and it sent shivers up her spine. It was like someone had taken pure venom and turned it into a voice.

Kamijou slowly turned around and saw that Index's face was twisted in such blind anger that it scared her to the core of her being.

"C-calm down Index. They aren't our enem-…"

Index did not listen at all.

"Listen, if you want to capture me so bad, fine. I'll let you take me if it means that much of you."

Index looked at the two magicians behind Kamijou with a soul rending glare.

"Just don't hurt Touka anymore."

Kamijou shivered and felt pity for the two magicians behind her. They had been friends with this boy not that long ago, and now they were his mortal enemies. Kamijou could not even begin to understand the feelings they might have.

Kamijou felt a hand grab her collar and pull her back.

"The time limit for when we will come to erase his memories is in another 12 hours and 38 minutes."

Even though Kamijou could not see the girls face, she could tell that the red haired magician was in pain, even though she was doing her best to sound like a magician whose job was to make the impossible possible.

"We need you to keep him in a place for us to get to him when the time comes. If you try to run away with him, he will die. If you let him run away from us, we will capture him anyway."

Kamijou could say nothing.

All she could do was listen to the pain to that girl's voice.

"And remember, we are the only way to save Index. If you care about him at all, I'm sure you'll do you job as his 'shackles'."

Kamijou was then shoved forward, and by the time she had turned around to face them, both magicians were already gone.

"Touka, are you okay?"

Index ran up to her with a concerned look on his face. While Kamijou felt incredibly torn on the inside, she smiled and rubbed Index's head.

"Don't worry about it Index. I still need a bit of time to get to 100%."

Index looked down at his feet. Kamijou could tell he was in deep contemplation.

"Touka… you know…If I make a deal with them…"

Kamijou wrapped her arms around the boy who was on the verge of crying.

"Didn't I say that I would protect you no matter what Index? That isn't going to change. I just need some time to rest."

Even as Kamijou said this, she felt like her heart was breaking inside.


	16. A Certain Time Out

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

As was natural in this world, night came to Academy City.

Index had somehow fallen asleep next to the futon during the day, and because they had been asleep since before the sun had set, the room's lights were not on, leaving both Kamijou and Index in darkness.

There was no sign of the still absent Negi, and Kamijou briefly wondered where he was before the term 'time limit' crept into her mind.

As Kamijou looked at Index, she saw how weary he was after three days of nursing her. She also blushed slightly when she occasionally heard her name being muttered in Index's sleep.

However, Kamijou still felt dirty for deceiving Index.

No matter how she looked at it, Kamijou was handing him over to his enemies. It might have been the best solution, the only solution, but Kamijou felt terrible for doing it.

Suddenly, in that dark room, the phone rang.

Negi's was an old black rotary phone that wouldn't look out of place in an old American movie.

Kamijou felt that she should answer the phone for some reason, but she also didn't know if it was right to answer Negi's phone without his permission. However, Kamijou grabbed the receiver any way. She did not care so much about answering the phone, but she would feel even more guilty if the noisy ringing woke Index up.

Besides, she needed something to take her mind off what was going on.

"It's me… You can tell who I am, right?"

The voice coming from the receiver was a polite, male voice. Even over the phone, Kamijou could tell the man was trying to keep his voice down.

"… Oh it's you… the guy with the ponytail…Kanzaki I think it was…?"

"If it is all the same to you, it would be better if we did not try and learn each other's names."

The man's speech was quick and to the point. It was clear that he cared nothing for Kamijou.

"Is he… Is Index still awake?"

Kamijou collapsed in the corner as far away from Index as possible.

"Yeah he's asleep right now, but… Wait, how did you even get this number?"

"We found the address when we came to visit, so it wasn't difficult to look up."

Kanzaki's sighed into the receiver, though from annoyance or relief, Kamijou could not tell.

"If he's asleep now, then that's perfect. Listen to what I have to say."

Kamijou looked over at the sleeping profile of Index and sighed.

"Fine, go ahead."

"As I mentioned to you before, the time limit is up at midnight. We have begun preparation to put all this to an end to everything by that time."

Kamijou's grimaced when she heard the word 'end'. She began to curl herself up into a fetal position and tried not to cry.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Just stop, please. If you tell me all this, then I'll feel like I have a choice to do something."

"…Then, you don't need time to say your farewells?"

Kamijou felt like her heart stopped for a second when she heard the word 'farewell'.

"Allow me to be honest with you. When Styx and I had to erase his memories for the first time, we spent the three days prior to it solely focused on creating memories with each other. On that final night, however, we could do nothing but watch as the time approached. I believe you should have the right to that same opportunity."

"…But…"

Kamijou felt tears streaming down her face as her shoulders shook in quiet sobs

"But, that's the same thing as giving up on him right? You're telling me to just give up my illusion of having the ability to help!"

"…"

Kanzaki was silent as Kamijou looked at Index's prone form and she could not contain her tears or sobs.

"I don't want to give up yet! I don't want to give up on Index even if it is the best way of doing things!"

"…I'd like to say it gets better with time, but it never does. We will come at the appointed time regardless of what you intend to do and recover him. You are to say you're farewells and leave before we arrive. If you interfere, we will kill you without a shred of remorse."

The magician's words were not words of hostility or scorn. He was simply informing Kamijou of what was going to happen, whether she agreed to it or not.

"Fuck this."

Kamijou could barely keep herself from bawling at the top of her lungs.

"Is this really the best option? Is this the only way to save him? You're magicians, right? Surely you can save him with some sort of spell or ritual."

"There is nothing that can be done about this with magic."

Kanzaki spoke with a flat tone that chilled Kamijou to her core.

"Index's perfect memory isn't something like a psychic power or magic spell. It's a natural condition that he's had since birth."

"…"

"We are magicians. If the circumstances surrounding Index were created by magic, then it would be easy to get rid of them."

"… Damn it…"

Kamijou was now shaking uncontrollably. She felt like this was all a bad dream, a nightmare that she desperately wanted to wake up from.

"What about the 103,000 grimoires? Index said that you could use that power to rewrite any law of the world like a god, so can't it be used to fix him?"

Kanzaki sighed into the other end in annoyance.

"What you are referring to is a Magic God. While there may be a way to do that in the 103,000 grimoires, that is exactly why Neccesarius is afraid of him. They are so afraid of Index rebelling that they put a magical collar on him so they are the only ones who could erase his memories. Also, Index, even in John's Pen mode, cannot access the grimoires for memory manipulation without the consent of the Archbishop of the Anglican Church."

Kamijou felt like a weight was slowly being pressed down on her chest.

"…You said that 85 percent of Index's brain is taken up by the information of those 103,000 grimoires, right?"

Kanzaki did not even hesitate to crush the last of her hopes.

"It is impossible for us magicians to destroy the information of a grimoire. It's all we can do to maintain the 15 percent that remains so he can live."

Kamijou loosened her grip on the receiver. Every possible solution she had come up with had been shot down by the magician on the other end of the line.

"I know this must be hard for you, but you have to accept what is going on. The magic side cannot do anything to save him."

Kamijou's rampant shaking suddenly stopped.

"…Then, what about the science side?"

"…"

The man on the other end of the line fell silent.

Kamijou hoped beyond everything that it was possible.

These magicians knew their field backward and forwards, and they could not save Index. If they could not do it with the power of their abilities, then they would simply have to rely on another group of abilities, like science.

"…There was a time when I would have believed the same thing, but not now."

Kamijou felt her hopes crushed by the man spoke.

"To be honest, I can understand the feeling of grasping anything that could work. I know that science can do things magic cannot, but crude methods like filling his body with unknown drugs or slicing him open with a scalpel will do nothing but unnecessarily shorten his life if we are wrong."

"…You don't know a lot about science, do you?"

"…"

No response came back at Kamijou.

"There are actually many ways you can lose your memories if you didn't know. There's aging, or in other words senility, that occurs in the same way you described as humans clearing space. Other ways you can lose your memories include getting drunk to Alzheimer's. You can also experience memory loss from general anesthetics like halothane, isoflurane, or benzodiazepine."

"Benzo… What?"

Kamijou could only smile as she imagined the confusion on that man's face as he heard such complicated things.

"Simply put, there are actually tons of ways to scientifically eliminate someone's memories. There are methods that you can use to get rid of those 103,000 grimoires, you idiot."

Kanzaki did not speak, as if he was in deep contemplation.

Of course Kamijou knew that some of these methods actually damaged brain cells to cause memory loss. A person who had a memory debilitating disease would not remember more if they had more memories removed, but Kamijou somehow knew she was on the right track.

"Besides this is Academy City, the center of science. There are plenty of espers here that can manipulate people's minds with powers like Psychometry or Marionette. Not to mention that there are several research facilities all over the place. It's way too soon for us to give up hope."

"…"

There was still no response from the receiver. Kamijou must have driven the man into a corner with her arguments.

"So please just give me more time. If I have enough time to do this, I'm sure I can come up with a solution to this so everyone can come out of this better."

"In the end the two of us simply can't understand each other."

On the other end of the line Kamijou could hear Kanzaki sigh in resignation.

"We of the magic side have a tried and true method to save Index's life. Can you say to me that you can find a such a solution by the deadline?"

"…"

Kamijou could not say anything.

Even though she wanted to say something, anything, to make Kanzaki trust her.

But she couldn't. She couldn't say a single thing.

"We will be there for him at midnight. While I could say not to do anything until we get there, I can tell you would not listen. While you might not have much time left, I hope you make your final useless struggles good ones so you have no regrets."

And with that, the man on the other end of the line hung up.

"Damn it."

Kamijou clenched her damaged left hand into a fist, causing twinges of pain to race up her arm.

While she had said those things over the phone, Kamijou was not a specialist of any kind. Sure there were most likely solutions to this problem that a brain surgeon or a researcher of neuroscience could explain, but Kamijou was just a normal high school student.

He had acted quite full of himself on the phone, but he was neither a brain surgeon nor a professor of neuroscience. Something might have been possible if done scientifically, but that normal high school student had no idea what that something might have been.

Once the time limit came, the magicians would come and mercifully destroy Index's memories to save his life. They were likely lying in wait near the apartment, planning to capture both Kamijou and Index if they tried to escape somewhere else.

The only reason the magicians had not come to take Index away already was because they must have felt some sort of sympathy to Kamijou.

Kamijou looked over at Index's sleeping face and she tightened her fist. She could not give up even if she wanted to.

Academy City had more than 1000 research facilities, both large and small. Kamijou was certain that she could find one that could help her fix Index.

Therefore, Kamijou needed two things in order to do something.

The first was to contact Negi and acquire the help of a research facility that dealt in either neuroscience or perhaps esper powers related to the mind. As much as she did not want to rely on her homeroom teacher anymore, Kamijou was just a first year high school student. Even if she tried her hardest, she would have problems finding one research facility, much less several.

The second thing she needed to do was to slip past the magicians and keep Index away from them so that Kamijou could put her plan into action.

Kamijou decided to start with calling Negi because that seemed to be the easier of the two, but quickly realized that she did not actually know her homeroom teachers cell phone number.

"Why am I such an idiot!"

From the limited amount of time Kamijou had spent in this room, she saw nothing out of the ordinary on the bare, cramped 4.5 tatami room. Even though the lights were off, Kamijou could not see any form of memo or notebook that could have held the information she saw. When she thought about how little Negi had, Kamijou was unsure that Negi even had a cell phone.

Trying to find a cell phone number that may not even exist seemed like an insane task to Kamijou.

Even so, she had no other choice.

Kamijou started searching everywhere she could searching for a memo or something that would have Negi's cell phone number written on it. Since every second of every minute mattered, every time her heart beat, Kamijou felt a flame expand in her heart.

After a few seconds of desperate searching, Kamijou found a notebook that looked to be Negi's account book, and inside she found an itemized cell phone bill.

She quickly ran over to the telephone and input the eleven digit number.

After three tones, Negi answered.

"Hello Negi Springfield here."

Before Kamijou could even speak, another voice, a female voice, spoke somewhere near the receiver.

"Really? You're answering a call in the middle of this?

"Don't worry; I'll get back to pounding you all night long once I'm done with this."

"Don't say things that can be misunderstood!"

Whoever Negi was talking to was clearly annoyed at Negi, and Negi acting like he normally did.

Kamijou would have asked what the hell was going on Negi's side if time was not an issue, but that was not the case.

"Negi I need you to help me with something."

"Kamijou? Where did you find my cell phone number? Are you still in my hou-…"

"Negi. This is serious, someone's life is at stake."

Negi was silent for a moment from the conviction in Kamijou's voice.

"Well I guess I can help out for a bit, but make sure it's quick. As you can tell I've got other business to attend to."

Kamijou took a deep breath, and then went into a quick retelling of the events that had happened since she had woken up. When she had finished, she was panting slightly in exertion.

"Hmmm. That seems to be a real problem, Kamijou. As much as I would like to help you with this, I don't think I can."

Kamijou felt a slight bit of anger rise up in her heart.

"Sensei. This isn't a joke right now. Index will have either his memories erased if I don't do something!"

"But, it's already 12 o'clock."

Kamijou suddenly froze in place.

The room had no clock in it but even if it had one, Kamijou lacked the courage to even check the time.

Her gaze zeroed in on Index.

He was spawled out across the tatami mats, unmoving.

Index was not moving at all.

"…In… Index?"

Index did not move in the slightest possible way.

It was like he had fallen into a deep, completely unresponsive sleep.

Kamijou dropped the phone receiver before she could recognize what was being said.

She heard the sounds of footsteps walking in the passageway leading up to the apartment.

"—_We will be there at midnight to collect him. You may not have much time left, but make sure your final useless struggles good ones so you have no regrets._"

The instant Kamijou recalled those words, the apartment door silently opened from the outside. Pale moonlight fell into the room like sunlight shining through the leaves of a forest thicket.

With the perfect full moon at their backs, the two magicians stood in the doorway in silence.

At that moment, the hands of clocks all across Japan indicated that it was precisely midnight.

That meant that a certain boy's time was up.


	17. A Certain Tearful End

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

With the pale moonlight shining at their backs, the two magicians stepped through the door, not even bothering to remove their shoes.

The two magicians had returned, but this time Index did not stand up and scare them away. He did not shout at them to leave, but rather laid on the futon covered in sweat like he was suffering from a fever, and his breathing was so shallow that it sounded like one could blow it out like a candle flame.

The boy was suffering from a headache so great that it must have pained him just to be alive at that moment, much less even stay awake.

"…Ah…"

Kamijou and the magicians did not need to exchange words.

With an annoyed look on her face, the red haired magician pushed past Kamijou as she stood there dumbfounded. The shove had no force or intent behind it, but Kamijou could not even hold her ground. She back fell on her onto the old tatami mats as if all strength had left her body.

The magician did not even look in Kamijou's direction. She simply knelt down next to Index, whose limbs were sprawled out limply. The magician grimaced slightly as she looked at him.

At that moment, that red haired girl was a perfect representation of the angers felt by a human when a person's precious someone was in pain before them.

"Kanzaki, please give me your help. We need to destroy his memories soon or he will die_._"

That voice was lacking in any form of emotion. It was the voice of a person who could not escape fate.

Kamijou felt like those words stabbed the most fragile part of her heart.

She knew that robbing Index of his memories was only meant to save him from death.

But…

She still could not believe that this was the best option.

"…"

Without realizing it, Kamijou began to clench her left hand hard enough to crack her nails.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't just give up at this point.

There were any number of research facilities that dealt with a human's memories and mind in Academy City. She did not want to give up here when there might be a happier way to save Index in one of those facilities. Using magic would destroy the memories that both she and Index cared about the most.

Kamijou could not bear to have the week she spent with Index deleted like the save data of a video game.

"…Wait."

Kamijou raised her head. She raised her head with the intent of opposing the magicians who were acting to save Index.

"Please, just wait a bit longer! There are 2.3 million espers in Academy City and there are over 1000 research institutions running it all. There are powers like Psychometry, Marionette, Telekinesis, and Materialize! There are tons of espers who can manipulate other people's minds and labs that can develop one's mind! If we can get their help, there's no need to rely on this horrible method!"

"…"

The red hair magician said nothing. She did not even pay Kamijou a glance

"No one would want to use this method, right!? Deep down in your heart, you're praying that there is some other way, right!? Please just wait a bit longer. Even if it's a long shot… Even if it seems impossible…I just want an ending where everyone is smiling and happy! So please…!"

"…"

The red haired magician continued to say nothing.

Kamijou had no idea why she was going so far. She had only met Index a week before. She had lived for 16 years without knowing Index, and she saw no reason why she would be unable to live a normal life after this.

She had no reason why.

She just knew that it hurt.

It hurt to think that Indexs words, his smile, and his mannerisms would never be directed towards her again.

It hurt to think that the memories of this one hectic week could be so easily wiped clean as if a reset button was pressed.

Just visualizing that caused a great pain in the most precious and kindest part of her heart.

"…Is that all you have to say, you stubborn failure?"

That was all the rune magician said.

Her ears had heard every single one of Kamijou's words, and yet Kamijou's words had not hit home in the slightest way.

The magician pointed at Index.

"Look at him."

Kamijou could not even move her head. The raw emotion displayed in those three words kept her rooted in place.

The magician sighed, and grabbed Kamijou by her hair.

"Look at him!"

Kamijou wanted to look away, but she could only look on transfixed

Before her eyes, she saw the body of Index, who looked like his breathing could stop at any moment.

"Can you continue to say that looking him dead in the eye? Can you continue to say that when you see that he is mere seconds away from death?"

"…Touka…"

Index's fingers silently stirred. It was unclear if he was barely conscious or just moving subconsciously, but he desperately moved his hand and tried to touch Kamijou's face.

It was as if he was desperately trying to protect Kamijou as the magician roughly held her in place.

"If you can, then you're not human!"

Kamijou was thrown back against the wall of the apartment. The magician looked down at Kamijou with pure disgust.

"So tell me esper. Are you a human who still feels emotion? Or are you a monster who doesn't care about extending someone's suffering because they just can't accept what is going on?"

"…"

Kamijou could not answer. She could not even think with this magician in front of her.

The magician pulled a necklace with a small cross on it out from her pocket.

"This is the tool we need to destroy his memories. As you might guess, it's an extremely magical item, so I'm guessing that if you touch it with that hand of yours, it should lose all of its power, just like my Innocentius did."

The cross swayed back and forth in front of Kamijou, almost beckoning Kamijou to reach up and grab it.

"But can you negate it, esper? Can you negate it, knowing what will happen if you do?"

Kamijou blankly stared up at Styx, who continued to look at her with a gaze of disgust.

"When that boy is suffering right before your eyes, can you take away the one thing that can save him!? If you believe so much in your own power, then negate it, and show us what you think you can do!"

Kamijou looked at the cross dangling before her eyes, the cross that could destroys a person's memories as easily as a computer virus.

With one motion she could stop the deletion of Index's memories. It was nothing difficult for her. She just had to reach out her hand and lightly touch it, then it would all be over.

But Kamijou could not do it.

She could not, for the life of her, lift her hand from the position it was in on the ground. It was like the entire weight of the world rested on that hand.

For the moment, even though she hated it, even though she knew that this couldn't be the best way of doing things; magic was the only safe and surefire way to save Index from death. Even though she wanted to with all her heart, she could not take that from the boy who was suffering.

It wasn't because she did not want to do it. It was simply that she could not do it.

Styx looked at Kamijou for a few seconds more, and then sighed in disinterest.

"Our preparations for the ritual will be complete at 0:15 at the earliest. At that time we will destroy his memories."

Kamijou felt her chest tighten.

She wanted to shout out to them and tell them to stop, but she could not find her voice.

She wanted to yell and tell them to wait, but she could barely breathe.

She wanted to shake them and beg them to stop this, but her body just wouldn't move.

All she could do was accept it.

—_My name is Index._

A small sad smile spread across her face.

She could only accept what was going on.

—_I couldn't protect you Touka. I'm sorry._

Tears began to stream down Kamijou's face.

Kamijou could only accept that she could do nothing to save Index at all.

"…Hey, magician…Styx."

Kamijou spoke with a flat tone as she blankly stared of into space.

"How do you think I should say farewell to him in the end?"

The way Kamijou spoke, it was like she was talking about a dying person.

"I don't have time for this nonsense."

That was the reply Kamijou received. It wasn't remotely funny, and in fact made Kamijou feel like she wanted to die. But somehow, Kamijou began to laugh.

Styx looked at Kamijou and grimaced.

"Leave this place, you broken monster. Your hand negated my flames and I won't allow it to interfere with the spell we are going to use."

Even though Kamijou felt horrible, she could not stop laughing.

"I see. It's the exact same as when he that wound on his back."

Kamijou looked down at her left hand. She looked down at her left hand that had acted as her minds support.

"Why is there never anything I can do?"

Kamijou began to laugh hysterically as tears streamed unbidden from her eyes.

"I can negate the systems of God with this left hand, yet I can't save just one suffering person!?"

Kamijou did not curse her fate.

She did not blame it on misfortune.

She simply reflected on her own utter uselessness.

Kanzaki gave Kamijou a sidelong glance before sighing.

"Styx, we still have 10 minutes left until we have to perform the ceremony. Let her say her goodbyes."

Styx looked over at Kanzaki as if he was crazy. But, Kanzaki only smiled at her in return.

"On the night we first erased his memories, you spent the whole night crying by his side. Don't you think that she should have that chance?"

Styx blushed slightly like she was recalling a slightly embarissing memory.

"B-But we have no idea what she'll do when we're gone. Look at her. For all we know she could attempt a double suicide while we aren't looking."

In response to this, Kanzaki continued to smile.

"If she were willing to do that, she would have destroyed the cross. Even now, she must still want for Index to live even if it means giving up."

"But…but…"

"Besides, whatever we do, we cannot perform the ritual until the appointed time. She will be more dangerous if she has any regrets left and tries to interrupt us mid ceremony."

"But…But…But…"

Styx gritted her teeth before she shot a gaze of pure annoyance at Kamijou.

"You have 10 minutes to say your goodbyes and then you will leave. Do you understand!?"

As Kamijou nodded her head, Styx spun around and went out of the apartment.

Kanzaki silently followed after her as he looked at Kamijou with a pitying gaze.

The door closed with a noise that resounded throughout the entire room.

At that moment, Index opened his eyes slightly.

"Touka… where are you…?"

Touka began to shiver in fear and guilt.

Even when he was in such great pain, Index was only thinking of her.

"…"

Kamijou wiped the tears from her face and did her best to smile. At that moment, standing before Index was the most frightening thing for her, but, running away was not an option for her.

"Touka…?"

Kamijou approached the futon with a smile on her face. The look on Index's sweat-covered face was one of relief.

"Hey…You've been out for a while, you know? I was wondering what I would do if you didn't wake up."

Index smiled and chuckled, even though it was apparent that he was in great pain.

"Sorry about that. I guess I was more tired than I thought…"

Index's voice trailed off when he noticed the incomplete magic circle that was drawn on the ground."

"Touka? What's all this?"

Kamijou looked down at the magic circle and briefly felt the pit of her stomach churn in disgust. She did not allow it to show on her face, though.

"Oh all this… Well it's for your headaches."

Index's eyes widened in shock as Kamijou smiled back at him.

"You're really bad at hiding things, you know?"

Kamijou put on a smile that made her heart want to break open.

"The magicians have come back, haven't they?"

Kamijou could not bear to speak at that point, so she simply nodded.

Index, instead of panicking, Index relaxed and put on a smile of resignation.

"Then it's all over isn't it?"

Kamijou could not maintain her false composure any longer and began to cry.

"I'm sorry…"

Kamijou looked at Index in surprise. Why had he said those words?

Index began to scratch his cheek and grinned, even though it must have killed him to do so.

"It really must have been a hassle to look after a weakling like me. I mean you've gotten burnt, cut, and knocked unconscious all because I was to incompetent do anything but run away."

Index looked up at Kamijou and smiled.

"I'm sorry you had to put up with me for a week and then have it end like this, Touka. I must be the most anti climatic person in the world."

Tears streamed down Kamijou's face as she genuinely smiled down at Index.

"You idiot, why are you talking like this the end of something? We'll definitely meet again one day, that's something I can promise you."

Index was silent for a moment, but then returned Kamijou's smile in kind.

"Yeah we will, won't we?"

Index clenched his right hand and shakily raised it above himself.

"Next time, I'll be stronger. Strong enough to beat both of those magicians and protect you as well. You might just fall for me when I do."

Kamijou held Index's shaking fist in her hands.

"Don't forget that I'll be getting stronger as well. Next time we meet, I'll make sure to defeat any magician who comes after you no matter what."

Index smiled back up to Kamijou, but it seemed to be the limit of his strength.

"Yeah… next time, things will be… different won't they…?"

Kamijou nodded her head.

"Yeah they will. Things will be so different next time that I'm sure we'll both be surprised at how they turn out."

As Kamijou finished speaking, she realized that Index had already fallen back into a deep sleep. But now, instead of a troubled pain look, he was smiling in contentment.

Kamijou could not help but smile at that.

"Really now, you fall asleep at the worst possible times."

At that moment Kamijou said something.

She said something that she would keep to herself until the day she could say it again.

She said something that, no matter what, she would never forget until the day she died.

When she stood up from the floor, Kamijou was no longer crying, and instead she had a fire in her eyes.

Sure she had failed this time, but that did not mean she would give up. Far from it. She would try again, even if it meant starting over again from scratch. After all, she and Index had formed a bond so deep that it had changed her life in just one week. Just imagining what a year could do sent shivers down her spine.

She was going to leave this room, confidently not defeated, and convince those magicians that she could solve Index's problems next year if they allowed him to stay with her. If they disagreed, then she would wait for when they finished the ceremony and then steal Index out from under them.

One way or another, she would find a way through science to make Index forget the grimorires that took up 85% of his brain.

"…Wait…what?"

Kamijou suddenly thought something was wrong.

85 percent?

Kamijou looked back at Index's smiling face.

85 percent.

That was what Kanzaki had said. 85 percent of Index's brain was currently filled with the 103,000 grimoires he had memorized. The pressure that they were putting on his brain meant that he could fit only a year's worth of memories in the remaining 15 percent.

But how could 15% hold only a year's worth of memories?

Kamijou had no idea how rare of a condition perfect memory was, but she was sure it was not so rare that Index was the only person in the world to have it.

Also, she was certain that others with perfect memories had magic available to erase their memories.

If it were true that 15 percent of a human brain could only hold a year's worth of memories, then that would mean that they would die when they were six of seven years old.

If such a condition was like some kind of incurable disease like that, wouldn't it be more commonly known to everyone?

Also who had told Kanzaki about those figures?

"Isn't that obvious Kamijou-san? Those two magicians were tricked."

The same moment Kamijou arrived at that conclusion, a voice from behind her gave her the answer.

The voice was not one filled with emotion like Styx's, or one that was constantly flat like Kanzaki. This voice was a relaxed one that seemed to jovial for the situation at hand.

When Kamijou heard it, she couldn't help but smile.

When she turned around, she had a slightly annoyed look on her face as she looked at the person standing there.

"Where in the world have you been all day?"

The person returned her smile as they scratched their head.

"Well, many things happened and it would take to long for me to explain them all. For now let's go with the old idiom, shit happened."

Standing there, grinning like a madman, was Negi Springfield, Kamijou's homeroom teacher.

A self-proclaimed magician who should also understand the processes of science.


	18. A Certain True End

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"…You sound particularly happy, though you do look like crap."

Kamijou was not lying about that. Negi's clothes were sliced open in various places, and he had a cut on his cheek.

"Well the woman who I was supposed to spend all night with decided that she did not want to, and violently left. It sucks a bit for me, but now I guess I can help you with your problem."

Kamijou could have asked what how Negi had snuck past the magicians outside.

She could have asked where he had been all day.

She could have asked what he had been doing.

However, she did not care about that. Right now she was focused solely on Index.

"So sensei, I have to ask you. What is a perfect memory? I don't know a lot about it and was wondering if you could tell me more."

Negi produced a cigarette out of nowhere, and the tip of it lit without him doing anything.

"Well first off, I can tell you that a perfect memory allows one to completely and totally memorize anything they see upon seeing it once. It's a very simple condition to explain Kamijou."

"But what about the human brain? If a person absorbs so many memories, could their brain burst from the stress those memories put on it?"

Negi began to chuckle as he took another puff of his cigarette.

"Kamijou, you don't really know a lot about the specifications of the human brain. While it is true that you absorb every second of life when you have a perfect memory, they can do that perfectly fine for the 100 or so years that they live. In fact a human brain can go for thousands of years if it is in a body that can handle the years."

Kamijou felt her heart skip a beat as Negi said that, but she had yet to bring up the core topic.

"But what about Index's grimories? Could they cause more space to be taken up because they are magical in nature?"

Negi sighed before smiling up at Kamijou.

"Kamijou-chan, I can see why you constantly fail all your development lessons. People don't have just one type of memory, Kamijou-san. Things like language and knowledge, like Index's grimories, fall under semantic memory, while things like habits fall under procedural memory, and things like memories fall under episodic memory."

"So basically… memories go into different compartments of the brain? That would make sense, since Index spoke like a regular person and could move around normally. He hasn't forgotten language or basic human movements."

"Of course he didn't. No matter how many books, even if their grimories, the person has memorized, they would only increase the amount of semantic memory a person has. Even if he read every book in the world, Index could never run out of episodic memory, or even die from it."

Kamijou began to grin as she looked down at the smiling face of Index.

The church had lied to those two magicians. Index's perfect memory was not a danger to his life.

"But… why in the world would they lie?"

Why would the church lie and falsely state that Index would die in a year?

Index's suffering was definitely not a lie. Even if it was not being caused by her perfect memory, then why was he suffering so much?

Negi was silent for a moment, but then he grinned.

"Kamijou, it can't be that hard to figure out. Didn't those magicians say anything to you about his condition?"

"…Of course."

After thinking for a moment, Kamijou suddenly laughed out loud.

The collar.

Kanzaki had said that the church had put a collar on Index so that they could do maintenance on the memories he had gained in a year.

But what if Index did not need the church to survive?

If he could live perfectly well on his own without the help of the church, why would he need a collar?

It was simple.

There had never been anything wrong with Index's head, but the church had done something to it to make it a wrong.

"…What sort of stupid thing is this?"

It was insane.

This entire situation was like the ending of a bad movie where one found out that everything that they had seen turned out to just be false. It was such an anti-climax.

Kamijou looked down at Index.

"Well now I know what I can do."

As Kamijou kneeled over Index, Negi slowly frowned.

"As much as I hate to stop you Kamijou I have to ask if you know what you are getting into."

Kamijou's hand stopped mid motion at Negi's question.

"What are you talking about sensei? Of course I know what I'm getting into."

Negi smiled sadly and took another puff of his cigarette.

"No I don't think you do. Trust me I've been in your shoes before."

Negi looked directly at Kamijou, and, for the first time, she saw what she would call the real Negi Springfield.

"You will be making an enemy of every magic organization in the world, intentionally or unintentionally, the second you negate that collar. Those who want Index for selfish, selfless, or any reason in between will come after you, and the blood that will follow will be on your head."

Negi looked away, and took another puff of his cigarette.

"You don't need to become the hero Kamijou. That path may seem like one you want to walk down, but it is not one everyone can handle."

Kamijou was silent for a moment.

Then she smiled.

"That's great. Cause I'm not going to become a hero."

Negi's eyes widened and looked he at Kamijou in shock.

Smiling, she began to remove the bandages that thoroughly wrapped around her left hand.

It was as if she was removing the seal on some hidden power.

"I will become the hero, villain, demon, god, or whatever I need to be in order to save the person in front of me."

Negi was silent and then he began to grin yet again.

"I see. Well Kamijou I must say you choose a path that I did not expect."

For a moment, Negi's innocent grin changed into a demonic one.

"You would choose to walk the path where you would sacrifice your humanity for one person."

Kamijou smiled.

"Of course I would. Even though he would probably be sad if I said this, but I would die for him if need be."

And with that she pressed her battered left hand against Index's forehead.

While she said it could negate the systems of God, she always thought that her left hand was useless, since it would not let her defeat even a single delinquent that constantly chased her around, or raise her abysmal scores on tests, or make her earn the respect of her underclassmen.

But, there was one thing it could do.

It could destroy the supernatural like nothing else.

"…Huh?"

But nothing happened.

Nothing at all happened when Kamijou touched Index.

There were no lights or noises, but had she really negated the magic the church had implemented? Index still grimaced as in pain, so it certainly seemed like nothing had happened.

Kamijou looked puzzled and began to touch Index on the cheek and the back of the head, but nothing happened when she did.

Kamijou then realized that she had already touched Index a few times before. If the collar could be negated just by touching Index then it would have already been negated.

"Negi, could Index's collar be associated to a certain body part?"

As Kamijou turned her head, she saw that Negi was no longer there.

"…What the hell?"

He was gone leaving no trace behind. Not even the stale smell of nicotine was left in the air from his cigarette.

"Why the hell would you leave in the middle of this you dumbass!?"

Kamijou sighed and returned her focus toward Index.

Since the magic had to do with memories, it would be logical that the magic was located on his head. If it was on inside his body, there would be no way for Kamijou to reach it.

"…Wait."

Kamijou looked at Index's face more closely that before.

With his face in a more relaxed state, his mouth was hanging slightly open, giving Kamijou a good look down his throat.

All the way to the back of his throat.

Due to the protection of the skull, that area was much closer to that brain than the back of the head was. Also, because of its semi hidden nature, people would almost never look at it and it was unlikely someone would ever touch it.

At the back of Index's throat Kamijou could see a single eerie mark carved in pure black.

"…"

Kamijou narrowed her eyes at the sight of the mark, and began to gather her resolve. Slowly and surely she proceeded to shove her hand into the Index's mouth.

The inside of his mouth wriggled like it was like a different creature altogether as Kamijou's fingers slipped inside. The oddly warm saliva wrapped around her fingers, and the unsettling feeling of his tongue made Kamijou blush for an instant before she pressed her fingers the rest of the way to the back of Index's throat.

Then, she felt a slight shock with her left index finger as if from a source of electricity.

In the same instant, her body was thrown back against the wall.

"Gah…!?"

A great number of blood droplets dripped down onto the tatami mats of the apartment.

The wounds Kanzaki had given her had reopened and fresh blood was flowing out of these wounds at great speed.

Kamijou looked to where Index was lying, and felt her breath freeze in her lungs.

Index lay limply in the futon, his eyes silently open, and glowing red.

The color was much different from his normal green irises.

An instinctual chill ran down Kamijou's spine; she lacked the strength to even move her battered left hand.

Index's eyes glowed a frightening red, and something sounded like it had exploded.

With a tremendous shock, Kamijou's body was launched into a set of shelves. The wooden planks making up the shelves were smashed apart by Kamijou's weight. An intense pain rushed through Kamijou's body as if all of the joints in her body had been smashed.

Trembling, Kamijou just barely managed to stay standing, even though her legs were threatening to collapse beneath her. The metallic taste of blood was mixed in with the saliva in her mouth.

"Warning: Chapter 3, Verse 2. All barriers for the Index Librorum Prohibitorum's collar from level's first to third have been breached. Preparing to regenerate… failed. The collar cannot self-regenerate. Switching priorities to the elimination of the intruder in order to protect the 103,000 archived grimoires."

Kamijou looked at what lay before her.

Index slowly stood up in such an unsettling manner that he seemed like a boneless, joint-less sack of jelly.

On closer inspection, the crimson light actually came from magic circles that covered the insides of his eyes.

While one could technically call them eyes, Kamijou found it difficult to think of them as such.

They held none of the human light and no light mischief that had been there before.

Kamijou had seen those eyes before. When this boy's back had been sliced open, collapsed in front of Kamijou's student dorm, where he had spoken about runes like a machine. These were the same exact eyes he had at that time.

_I have no way to use mana, so I can't use magic._

"…Come to think of it, that's one of the things that kept slipping my mind."

Kamijou muttered under her breath as she clenched his battered left fist.

"If you're not an esper, why is it you can't use magic power?"

Index did not even respond to Kamijou's question.

"Beginning to use the 103,000 archived grimoires to determine the spell or power used to damage the barrier… failed. The specific magic cannot be determined. Putting together an anti-intruder, localized weapon to expose the composition of the spell."

Index head twitched in an inhuman way before coming to a halt.

"The magic that is expected to be most effective on this specific intruder has been formulated. Proceeding to activate the special magic. **St. George's Sanctuary, destroy the intruder.**"

With a tremendous noise, the two magic circles in Index's eyes grew simultaneously. The two magic circles were now over two meters across and positioned in front of Index's face. Each one was fixed in place with its center over each one of her eyes and they would move through the air when he slightly moved his head.

" . ."

Index spoke something that was beyond Kamijou's human comprehension.

For an instant, the two magic circles centered over Index's eyes glowed a bright red. The next instant, it seemed like an explosion of high voltage electricity occurred at a point in the space between Index's eyes, and it scattered out in every direction.

However, rather than bluish-white electricity, this lightning was pitch black.

Though it was an unscientific description, it seemed that space itself had seemingly cracked open. Centered at the point where the two magic circles crossed, a pitch black spacial crack spread out in every direction.

Something pulsating swelled up from within that crack, and it gave off a beast-like scent.

"Ha…"

Kamijou shivered in place.

It was not based on either theory nor logic.

It was not based on reason or sense.

Perhaps it was simply based on her basic instincts; she knew not what exactly that thing within the cracks was. However, she knew that just by seeing and viewing it directly, that it would be enough to destroy the being that was Kamijou Touka.

"Ha."

Kamijou trembled even more.

The cracks spread farther and farther. Even though she knew that whatever was within the cracks approached, she could not move. She was truly rooted in place.

After all…

She just had to destroy whatever that thing was. She and she alone had the power that could save Index.

"Ah ha… Ah ha ha ha … **Ahh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!**"

That was why she trembled, grinned and laughed with delight.

Was she afraid?

Of course not. After all, she had been waiting for this moment for so long.

While she said it could negate the systems of God, her left hand was so useless. It would not let her defeat even a single one of the delinquents that constantly chased her around, or raise her average abysmal scores on tests, and it would not make her earn the respect of any of her underclassmen.

When that boy's back had been sliced open, she had been forced to leave the apartment so as not to interfere with the recovery magic.

When the wire-wielding scruffy looking samurai had sliced her within an inch of his life, she had lost her will to even fight a stupid, if not necessary, end.

"Come on Index. Let's bring this stupid story to its climax."

It was not that she was going to become the hero of this story. It was just that she held the power to tear this cruel, boring story to pieces!

Kamijou was only four meters away.

She clenched her left fist.

At that same moment, the cracks spread out all at once and "opened". The cracks had opened wide enough to reach the edges of the room and that "thing" inside of them looked out and focused directly on Kamijou.

Kamijou looked back unblinking.

That "thing" shot a pillar of light out from within the cracks.

It looked something like a laser beam that was about a meter across. The light was so pure and white it looked like it had been made by the sun.

The instant it shot out at him, Kamijou lazily put her left hand out in front of her face.

The sound of the impact was like a piece of meat being pressed against a hot metal sheet.

There was no pain, not even any heat. As if it was striking an invisible wall, the pillar of light scattered in every direction when it struck Kamijou's left hand.

Even so, the pillar of light was not completely negated.

It must have been just like Styx's Innocentius, since it seemed to have no end no matter how much she negated it.

"No… I guess this is something else entirely…"

She felt a slight stinging pain in the palm of her left hand, like the magic was slowly eating into it. Her left hand was probably not negating the beam quickly enough and the pillar of light was slowly approaching her millimeter by millimeter.

"I'm guessing this isn't just some sort of large mass. Each one of these particles of light must be completely different from each other, huh?"

It was quite possible that Index was using his 103,000 grimoires to use 103,000 different types of magic at once. Each individual grimoire probably held instant death and he was using them all at once.

Suddenly, Kamijou heard a loud noise from outside of the apartment.

"Oh did you two just notice something that was wrong?"

Kamijou spoke just as the door swung open and the two magicians charged in.

"Dammit, what are you doing!? You're still struggling in—…!?"

Styx's shout caught in her throat. The sight of the pillar of light and that it was Index who had fired it must have made he breath catch somewhere in her lungs.

Kanzaki, the one who had seemed superior and powerful before, looked utterly weak in comparison.

"'The Dragon's Breath? It can't be. How in the world is he using magic!?"

Kamijou slowly turned around and looked at the two magicians who stood there dumbfounded.

"Oh you know what this pillar of light is? What was it called again? Dragon's Breath? Could you please explain to me any weaknesses I can exploit?"

Styx looked between Kamijou and Index with an almost blank look on her face.

"…But… but… what is…?"

Kamijou sighed and returned her gaze toward Index.

"God, you piss me off, you that? Isn't it fucking obvious what's going on? This is the defense mechanism that the church is using to keep Index under their control. It activated when I destroyed the collar that prevented Index from having more than a year of memories."

Kamijou's feet began to slowly but surely slide backwards. Annoyed she held her wrist with her right hand.

"Think rationally about everything. Do you really think that the people who had created such a cruel system like making one person take on all the tainted power of grimories would let that person walk around freely with all that power?"

"St. George's Sanctuary is showing no effect against the intruder. Switching spells and amplifying destruction of the intruder."

Both the magicians looked at Index and back at Kamijou in a daze. This Index was clearly not the Index the two magicians knew but an Index they had never seen before.

"…Fortis931."

Tens of thousands of cards flew out from within Styx's pitch black clothes. The cards that had flame runes carved in them spiraled around like a typhoon, and in no time the walls, ceiling, and floor were covered without gap.

However, it was obvious that she did not do this in order to save Kamijou, but in an effort to save the boy named Index.

Stiyl pressed her hand against Kamijou's back.

"I do not need any of your vague possibilities."

Her voice was so quiet that Kamijou could barely hear her.

"I have the one sure fire way to save him, and I will destroy anything that gets in my way of doing it!"

Even though Kamijou could not see behind her she was certain that the girl was crying.

She was scared.

She was so scared about losing her most precious person that she could not accept hope.

Kamijou grit her teeth.

"Stop lying to yourself."

Kamijou said it in quiet, but powerful voice.

"You've been waiting all this time for a chance to save him, haven't you? You wanted a solution that would save his life, but also one where you didn't have to give up on being by his side again and again. That's the kind of ending you wanted, isn't it?"

Kamijou felt the magician girls hand shake on her back.

"You always wanted to be the hero, yet you could only settle for the role of the cowardly villain. You had to give up, again and again and again. You gave into suffering, and sacrificed yourself along with Index, because all your hope was gone."

The girl's hand could not stop shaking, and she said nothing to argue with Kamijou.

Kamijou's arm began to falter in the face of the magic beam, but Kamijou did not stop holding her arm out in front of her.

"Yet even when you are faced with a chance to save him, why are you still giving up?"

The girl's hand froze in place.

A drop of blood hit Kamijou's face from a cut slowly forming on the palm of her hand. But still, Kamijou held her hand out in front of her.

"Isn't this the chance you were waiting for?"

Kamijou felt the bones in her fingers beginning to break from the pressure that was being put on them. Even then, she held her hand out in front of her.

"Isn't this the ending you wanted?"

Kamijou felt the bone in her arm creak and crack from the force of the beam, but she still held her hand in front of her.

"Isn't this the thing you would do for the person you love!?"

Kamijou's arm was blown to the side by the pillar of light. Kamijou was now completely open to the oncoming death.

"…Salavare000."

The instant before the pillar of light struck her face, Kanzaki spoke.

He had said the name he had to give when he used magic.

He gave his magic name.

Kanzaki's approximately two meter long Japanese sword sliced through the air at a speed that would have been impossible. Alongside this, his seven wires flew towards Index with pinpoint precision.

However, he did not aim for Index.

Instead, the wires tore through the fragile tatami mat at Index's feet. Having lost his footing, Index fell backwards, dragging the magic circles linked to his eyes and the pillar of light that was supposed to hit Kamijou missed its target by a hair's breath.

The pillar of light sliced through the wall and ceiling of the apartment, as well as the pitch black clouds floating in the night sky.

In the areas where the wall and ceiling had been sliced, not even a splinter remained. Instead, the portions that had been destroyed had become feathers of light that were as pure white as the pillar of light that had created it.

"Those feathers are the same as the Dragon's Breath, the power of the legendary dragon of St. George. Whatever power they may possess in them, I highly doubt that the human body will be fine if it comes into contact with them."

Kamijou, having been freed from the attack of the bonds of the pillar of light, did not even turn around thank Kanzaki for his warning.

Instead, she charged forward.

She charged forward with the intent of saving the boy named Index.

But before she could take even two steps, Index turned his head, and like a giant sword being swung, the pillar of light brought back down toward Kamijou, slicing back through the night sky.

Kamijou skidded to a halt and held her left hand out before her to block the beam.

However that would prove pointless.

"…Innocentius…"

The voice was soft, but its effect was large.

A large spiral of flame appeared in front of her, and from it, the form of a person sprung out and spread its arms out to act like a shield.

"Can…Can you…"

Kamijou could hear that voice above the roar of the flames and the strange sound that the beam gave off.

"Can you save him!?"

It was not the voice of a magician who could make the impossible possible.

It was not the voice of a sadistic murderer who obtained joy from killing others.

It was the voice of a girl, who was trusting someone else with their most precious person.

Kamijou could not help but grin.

"What the hell are about with that 'you' crap? I'm not the only one saving him."

Kamijou clenched her left hand into a fist.

"All three of us are going to make this the best possible ending!"

Kamijou did not turn around, so she could not see the expression on the magicians face. But the voice that replied to her, made her smile.

"Then… Let us give this story the fairytale ending it deserves!"

Kamijou did not even need to respond to that.

Instead, she began to run.

She ran around the battle of flame and light in front of her. She ran toward her end goal, the person who had been in her sights for the past week.

She ran toward Index.

"Warning: Chapter 6, Verse 13. New enemies confirmed. Changing combat considerations. Beginning scan of the battlefield… done. Focusing on the destruction of the most difficult enemy, subject name: Kamijou Touka."

Index swung his head, pillar of light and all, around, following Kamijou's path.

"Innocentius!"

However, the giant flame being moved to protect Kamijou as she ran. The light and the flames continued to battle in an extended conflict of destruction and regeneration.

Kamijou continued to run at Index.

Four more meters away.

Three more meters away.

Two more meters away!

One more meter away!

"Look out above you!"

As Kamijou just reached the point where she could reach and touch the magic circles in front of Index's face if she stretched out her hand, she heard Kanzaki's shout. Without stopping her feet, Kamijou looked up at the ceiling, or rather lack of a ceiling.

The feathers of light...

A few dozen of the shining feathers that had been created by Index's pillar of light were slowly floating down like snowflakes. They had floated down far enough to be just centimeters away from Kamijou's head.

Despite knowing next to nothing about magic, Kamijou could still tell that having one of those feathers touch her would have extremely undesirable results.

She also knew that she could most likely negate them easily by using her left hand.

However…

"Warning: Chapter 22, Verse 1. Analysis of the flaming construct spell has succeeded. It is confirmed to be a distorted version of a Christian motif described with runes. Adding in anti-Christian spell matrix's… Spell 1 loaded, Spell 2 loaded, Spell 3 loaded. Twelve seconds until the complete activation of the spell: Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani."

The pillar of light's color turned from a pure white to a bloody crimson.

Innocentius's regeneration speed visibly slowed and it began to be pushed back.

Using her left hand to negate even one of the dozens of feathers of light would likely take up too much time. When Index got back to his feet, he would most likely destroy both Kamijou, Styx, and Kanzaki without a shred of remorse.

It was a simple choice.

It was either sacrifice herself, or let the one chance to save Index pass by.

It was a simple question of who to save and to who to give up on.

The answer was obvious to Kamijou.

Kamijou had always thought of her left hand as useless. It had never let her defeat a single one of the delinquents that constantly chased her around, or raise her on average abysmal scores on tests, or earn her the respect of her underclassmen.

But at that moment, her left hand was more than just her left hand. To Kanzaki, Styx, Index, and her, Kamijou's left hand represented hope.

To Kamijou, her formerly useless left hand was the only thing that mattered about her.

_God, if this plot, this world is not supposed to be like this…_

With one final step, Kamijou reached out to the magic circles in front of Index's eyes.

_Then I will break that fucked up illusion to pieces!_

With just one touch the magic circles disappeared.

"…Warning: Final… Chapter, Verse Zero…. The collar has received fatal… damage… Regeneration… impossible…."

The emotionless voice coming from Index's mouth ended altogether.

The pillar of light and magic circles had completely disappeared, and the cracks that had been running all across the room had been erased.

In that moment, one of the feathers of light fell down touched Kamijou's head.

Even so, Kamijou smiled. She smiled even though she would never move those fingertips again.

On that night, the girl named Kamijou Touka died.


	19. A Certain Veiled Beginning

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or events not original to the story. A majority of this work was taken from Baka-tsuki and edited for better English and new events. Please read review and enjoy.**

* * *

"Seems there was nothing wrong with you."

The doctor spun around in her swiveling chair. She seemed to be aware that her face resembled a frog's, proven by the fact she had a sticker of a small tree frog on the ID card on her chest.

Index had a great love for humanity, but doctors and scientists were people he did not feel comfortable around. While magicians had their own collection of odd actions and practices, Index felt scientists were a bit odder.

He briefly wondered why he was alone with the doctor, but then realized that he was without anyone to be with, so he had no choice.

The doctor looked over a clipboard for a second, and then turned to smile at Index.

"Now I don't want to be rude, but I feel I must ask. Why are you still here?"

As much as Index wanted to give that answer, he did not know the answer to that question.

He could barely come to terms with what happened to him over the past few hours.

He was surprised to have the two magicians who had been chasing him for the past year hugging him when he had woken up. They had explained the yearly wiping of his memories to him and 'reintroduced' themselves to him.

"But I must say; having three people in Academy City without an ID is quite a surprise. Well one of our surveillance satellites was shot down last night so I guess it's left Judgment quite busy."

Index was one of the three without an ID, the other two being those magicians. Despite having chased him all over for the past year, they had disappeared earlier during the day after saying their goodbyes.

"By the way, is that letter you have there from the two of them that were with you?"

The frog-faced doctor pointed at the envelope in Index's hand.

With a slight pause, Index ripped the envelope open and took out the one page letter.

"Oh? I thought that it was addressed to her, and not you."

"…As much as I would like to say that I'm sorry, I'm the one who's most in the dark."

Since the letter was sent from the red haired magician known as "Styx Magnus" Index could not help but want to read it.

The letter read:

_To Kamijou Touka,_

_Any of the standard pleasantries would just be a waste of time, so I'm skipping them._

_As much as I would like to go into all my personal feelings about this matter, I must say that I doubt I would be able to give them you without an unlimited amount of paper, so suffice it to say, Thank you._

_I'm sure you can guess that __we still don't trust your doctors, so there shouldn't be any real need to say that we examined him in our own way before letting 'your people' look him over. He seems to be fine and shows no sign of the symptoms he usually has when his brain is near bursting. So I and Kanzaki concluded that he should be fine._

_The higher ups in the Anglican Church seemed to want us to retrieve him as soon as possible after we reported that the collar had been removed, but they backed down when we began to ask about the true purpose of the collar. However, that also means we can't take Index back with us. The Church of England has people who are much stronger than me and Kanzaki combined so even if we tried to resist them if they wanted to collar Index again, we would be stopped instantly. _

_But the Anglican Church has little power outside of England, even less so in Academy City. They won't be able to reach them unless they wish to anger those of the science side. So you and Index should be safe for a good long while_

_However, the fact remains that Index used magic based upon the 103,000 grimoires while in the John's Pen mode that the church had prepared as a defense mechanism. Now that the John's Pen mode has been destroyed, it is quite possible that he can use magic of his own free will now. If that is the case, then eventually it might cause the higher ups and other magic organizations to come after Index regardless of what is in their path. The fear of a Magic God is that powerful on our side._

_That said I don't see how his magic power could have recovered after being tied to a magic system that complex for so many years. But still, I would suggest that we all need to be careful. You and your 'mysterious ally' most of all._

_Also, while Kanzaki and I are leaving for now, we will be back, and it might not always be as allies either. I'm just saying this to clear up any misunderstandings that will happen when we meet. _

_P.S. This letter is made to self-destruct after it has been read. Now don't take this the wrong way, but I don't like leaving evidence of magic in that city for others to find._

Directly under the letter was one of Styx's runes carved into the paper. As soon as Index recognized it, he frantically threw the letter away, where it burst into pieces with a crackling noise.

The frog faced doctor chuckled a bit.

"You seem to have some rather extreme friends. Did they soak that letter in a liquid explosive?"

The fact that an exploding letter did not surprise the doctor made Index wonder at what kind of place Academy City was.

The frog faced doctor smiled before picking up a specific clipboard from a pile.

"If you want to know how that girl is doing, the fastest way would be to meet her directly…Or so I'd like to say."

The doctor handed Index the clipboard and smiled.

"It would be quite rude of me to force you to receive the shock of it all before the girl, so how about a quick lesson before you meet her?"

* * *

Index gently knocked on the door twice.

That was all he did, but Index felt like his heart had just ran a marathon. He restlessly wiped his hands on his sleeves and tried to look as calm as possible.

"Yes?"

The voice was a distinctly female. Index slowly wondered what he should say.

"Um…I'm coming in?"

It was a question instead of a statement, but it was quite fitting for how Index felt.

His hand hovered over the doorknob.

If he opened this door, he would be confirming whatever was on the side as reality. Any illusion he had, any hope or prayers for the future, would be destroyed if he opened that door.

Index shook his head and opened the door.

Instead of a normal hospital room that was set up six patients to a room, this one was a private room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all pure white which threw off any sense of distance, making the room seem oddly large.

There was a girl with long wild black hair sitting up in the pure white bed in the center of the room. The window next to the bed was open, and the pure white curtain fluttered slightly in the wind.

The girl was, of course, alive.

That truth alone almost brought tears to Index's eyes, and he simply wanted to run up to the girl and throw his arms around her.

He did not because there was something holding him back.

"Um…"

The girl had a quizzical look on her face with bandages wrapped around her head like a headband.

"Did you happen to come to the wrong room by any chance?"

The girl's words were polite and questioning. They were the words of someone who was probing for information.

The words Index had shared with the doctor floated to the front of his mind.

_Her condition is less amnesia and more complete memory destruction._ _That girl did not simply "forget" her memories. It was like her brain cells had never been used. There is no way she can remember her memories from before. After all, if you haven't had any memories, how can you remember anything? _

"…"

Index lowered his gaze to the floor.

Serious, irreparable damage had been done to that girls brain caused by the light Index himself had fired. Or so he had heard, since he did not remember anything about it himself.

Since it was physical damage, just a physical wound healing it through recovery magic was quite possible. However, girl had a power called the Imagine Breaker, which negated all magic, good or evil.

In other words, even if he tried to heal the girl with his supposed magic, the recovery magic would be negated.

"Umm?"

The girls voice sounded unsure… no, concerned.

"Are you okay? You've just been standing there looking really sad."

Index sighed to himself, and then put on the biggest smile he could manage. He had accepted something deep down in his heart.

He accepted that the girl in front of him knew nothing about him.

"Of course I'm okay. What kind of person would I be if I wasn't anything but fine."

The girl who knew nothing raised a dubious eyebrow, and then began to study Index's face intently.

"Um… Sorry but…"

The girl tilted her head to the side.

"Do we…know eachother?"

That question bored into Index like a drill. Yet he still smiled.

"Yes of course we know each other. You simply can't remember knowing me that's all. Our friendship started when we met on your dorm balcony after I had collapsed there."

The girl put on a slightly confused look.

"…I live in a dorm?"

The utter emptiness this girl showed tore at Index's mind. Yet he still smiled.

"…You don't remember do you? After we met, you destroyed my Walking Church with your left hand."

The girl showed no signs of understanding.

"What's a Walking Church? …Is it some kind of new jogging religion?"

The utter blankness this girl had about her broke Index's heart. And yet he still smiled

"You really don't remember. You fought magicians for me, and yet you can't remember a thing do you Touka."

The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Is Touka… someone's name?"

Index felt tears run down his face, but he still smiled.

"Ha… you probably can't even remember that… your friend, Index… cared about you alot."

The girl began to scratch the back of her head.

"I'm sorry, but who is Index? It doesn't really sound like a person's name, so is it a cat or a dog?"

Index looked at the girl for a few seconds, but then turned his gaze to the ground.

"…Is what I would say if I didn't know who you were."

Index froze in place as his gaze turned from the floor to the girl sitting in the bed.

The concerned expression had left the girls face, exchanged for a grin that belayed a sense of twisted victory.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Are you mad that I said that your name sounds more like a dog or cat name?"

Index could not begin to understand what was going on.

"Umm… Touka? I was told all of your memories were deleted from your brain cells. How in the world can you remember me?"

The girl sighed and leaned back in the bed.

"Even though you have a perfect memory, you are really slow. While it's true that I chose to take those feathers of light, I wasn't completely stupid in my choice. I'm no magician, so I had no idea what effects those feathers had, but according to the doctor, my brain cells were damaged as a result of them. As such, I'm supposed to have amnesia as a result, right?"

Index nodded his head, not daring to say a word.

"But remember, those feathers were created by a magic power. So it follows that the damage caused by it was done by the supernatural power of magic."

"…Oh."

Index finally realized something.

"That's right. Basically, I just had to negate the magical damage by touching my head with my Imagine Breaker. If it were a physical phenomenon like Stiyl's flames, the wounds I would have received would be physical, but since those feathers of light were a supernatural power, then the damage they did was also supernatural."

It sounded absolutely ridiculous, but that girl's Imagine Breaker had proven that it could negate even the rules created by God, so it must have been possible.

The girl leaned back and began to chuckle to herself in glee.

"Man, you should've seen your face just then. I needed a good laugh after everything I've been through in the past week."

"…"

Index was silent.

"…Um… Index?"

The girl suddenly looked at Index in an unsure way.

"Are you mad?"

"No. I just found out how horrible a person you are. That's all."

* * *

With a silence befitting of a priest, Index left the hospital room.

"Hm?"

The frog-faced doctor entered the room just as Index was leaving.

"I came to check up on you, but… Oh my."

The girl had a blank expression on her face as her mouth hung open. If it was a manga, one could have probably seen the girl's spirit flying out of it.

"Have you ever had someone tell you how much of a horrible excuse of a human being you are in several different languages?"

The doctor glanced out the open door before turning to Kamijou.

"I'm judging by how the boy was not crying, that you did not tell him the truth?"

"…"

The girl was silent.

The reality that God had created was not as kind and warm as what she had said.

As a result of the magic that had afflicted both of them, the boy and girl had collapsed in the apartment. The two people who called themselves magicians had brought them to the hospital and told the doctors what had transpired, even though they were not believed by all but one. That doctor had told the girl all of it, leaving nothing out.

However to the girl who had remembered nothing before waking up in a hospital, it was like hearing the exploits of someone else entirely.

What the girl had told that boy had been nothing more than something she had made up based on what someone else had done.

"For… some reason… I couldn't stand how that boy looked at that moment. That was just how I felt at that time. I don't know what kind of feeling it was when I felt it and I'll probably never remember, but I can remember that I felt it."

The girl put on a smile that carried no emotion.

"I may still remember something after all."

The frog-faced doctor looked at the girl with a frown.

"I'm sorry to say this, but that isn't possible. Your memories weren't simply hidden from you. They were 'killed', in every sense of the word. How can you have these memories when your brain can't remember them?"

Somehow, the doctor expected the girl's response would blow away that ridiculous logic.

The girl smiled again, and slammed her fist against her chest.

"Isn't it obvious where they are? They're in my heart."

That was what the girl said.

Those were the words that Kamijou Touka, a certain Illusion Killing Girl, used to begin her life.

* * *

**Postface: With that, this is the end of the first book. I will eventually do the second book, but it will be under a separate story. It will most likely go under the crossover section of the site because of what I plan to do, so please keep an eye out if you wish to read it. **


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